00:02You know, this one's almost funny. A person walks into a doctor's office and says,
00:08it hurts when I do this. The doctor looks so calmly and replies, well then, don't do that.
00:17And we laugh because it sounds too simple, too obvious, almost dismissive. But what if that
00:26simple line holds more spiritual wisdom than we want to admit? Because so much of life is exactly
00:34that conversation. We go to God in prayer and say, Lord, it hurts when I live like this.
00:42It hurts when I hold on to this bitterness. It hurts when I keep chasing what doesn't satisfy.
00:49It hurts when I compare myself. It just hurts, Lord. And heaven gently answers, then don't do that.
01:00Now, think about that. There's something profoundly freeing about the simplicity of truth.
01:08Jesus never complicated what we complicate. In the gospel of Matthew 11, verse 30, he says,
01:19my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Not because life is painless, but because unnecessary pain
01:28is optional. Now, I want you to let that sink in for a second. There is a pain that grows
01:36you,
01:37and there is pain you keep choosing. Some pain refines your character. Other pain
01:45is simply the consequence of ignoring wisdom. You know, if it hurts when you bend your life in a
01:53direction, perhaps the solution is not more prayer for endurance. Perhaps it's obedience.
02:02You know, we live in a culture that tries to treat symptoms without addressing behavior.
02:08We ask God to heal our anxiety, but we won't release control. We ask him to restore peace, but we
02:18won't
02:18forgive. We ask for breakthrough, but we keep walking back into the same fire. It hurts when I do this.
02:30Well, then don't do that. And that's not condemnation. That's invitation. You see, in the
02:38book of Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 6, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean
02:46not on your
02:47own understanding. Why would scripture warn us about leaning on our own understanding? Because our
02:56understanding often leads us into pain we could have avoided. You know, we are brilliant at justifying
03:04what damages us. We'll say things like, it's not that bad. I can handle it. I'll change later.
03:13Just one more time. And every time we repeat the behavior, we return to the doctor and say,
03:21it still hurts. God, he is not surprised. Luckily, he is patient. And he's also clear.
03:30You see, grace forgives. Wisdom redirects. And there are patterns in your life that are speaking
03:39loudly. Certain conversations that always end in regret. Certain environments always weaken your
03:48resolve. Certain thoughts always spiral into fear. And certain compromises always cost more than they
03:59promise. But what if the miracle you are praying for is simply for the courage to stop? Sometimes the
04:09most spiritual word you can say is no. No to gossip. No to self-sabotage. No to that late night
04:19thought
04:20that drags you into shame. No to the narrative that you are not enough. No to returning to what God
04:29has
04:30already rescued you from. You see, Jesus said in the Gospel of John 10 verse 10,
04:38I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. Abundant life is not accidental. It's
04:48aligned. And alignment means adjusting behavior to truth. Now, if every time you touch the stove,
04:59it burns you, you don't need a theology lesson. You need a direction. And this is where faith
05:07becomes practical. Faith is not only believing God can change your circumstances. It's trusting him
05:15enough to change your habits. Some people are waiting for God to remove the pain while continuing the
05:23action that causes it. But transformation is a partnership. He provides the strength, but you
05:32must provide the surrender. And there are things in your life that hurt not because God is punishing
05:41you, but because your soul was never designed for them. You know, bitterness hurts the one who carries it.
05:50Pride isolates the one who protects it. Envy poisons the one who entertains it. Secret sin fractures the
06:02one who hides it. And it hurts when I do this. Well, then don't do that. And that might mean
06:11walking
06:11away from a toxic environment. It might mean, it might mean deleting what tempts you. It might mean
06:20setting boundaries where you used to allow chaos. It might mean choosing silence instead of retaliation
06:28or choosing discipline or choosing discipline instead of comfort. Growth is not mystical. It's often
06:37mechanical. You change what you repeatedly do. And when you do different things, you get different
06:48results. The Apostle Paul writes in the epistle to the Galatians 6 verse 7,
06:55A man reaps what he sows. Now, that's not a threat. That's a principle. If you plant seeds of
07:05patience, you will harvest peace. If you plant seeds of resentment, you will harvest unrest. Now,
07:14the soil is faithful and it doesn't care what seeds you plant. It's just going to give you back what
07:22you
07:22sow. So, ask yourself honestly. What seeds am I planting that keep producing the pain I complain
07:31about? There is freedom and responsibility. It is empowering to realize that not all suffering is
07:41outside your control. Some of it shifts the moment you shift. You cannot always control what happens to
07:50you. I understand that. But you can control what you repeatedly choose. You know, Jesus told the woman
07:59caught in sin in the Gospel of John 8 verse 11, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no
08:08more. Notice the order
08:10there. No condemnation, then direction. That, my friends, is the heart of God. He does not crush you for what
08:21hurts you. He invites you to stop returning to it. The enemy will whisper that you'll never change.
08:29But grace, grace, grace whispers that you are not stuck. If it hurts every time you entertain that
08:39thought, replace the thought. If it hurts every time you speak that way, change it. Stop speaking that
08:50way. If it hurts every time you isolate yourself from the truth, reconnect. You see, small obedience
09:00creates massive freedom over time. The doctor's advice and the joke I told sounds simplistic because
09:10we want complex solutions. We want a 10-step strategy, a deep revelation, a dramatic intervention,
09:19or a miracle. But sometimes, breakthrough begins with one quiet decision. I will not keep doing what keeps
09:31breaking me. You are not weak for struggling. But you are powerful when you decide to do things
09:42differently. Faith is not to do things differently. Faith is not a denial of pain. It's an alignment
09:49away from what produces unnecessary pain. The Holy Spirit often convicts gently. And that conviction is
09:59not to shame you, but to steer you. It's like a GPS recalculating your route. Heaven keeps saying,
10:08turn here, turn here, not there. And every time you ignore it, the road gets rougher. Not because God left
10:17you, but because you chose the ditch. You know, yet here's the beauty of grace. You can always turn around
10:26right now, without drama, without announcement, and without spectacle. Right now, you can make a decision.
10:38If it hurts when you do that, if it hurts when you do that, you can stop. You can choose
10:44better. You can choose to be
10:47more aligned with God. You can choose to be more disciplined in your life. You can choose truth over impulse
10:56and
10:57obedience over ego. And I tell you something, you will be amazed how quickly your peace increases when your
11:07patterns change. The miracle is not always lightning from the sky. Sometimes the miracle is restraint.
11:18Sometimes the miracle is saying no, when you used to say yes. Sometimes the miracle is walking away when you
11:28used to lean in.
11:29And sometimes, just sometimes, the miracle is silence when you used to argue. The world may laugh at the simplicity
11:42of the doctor's answer, but heaven smiles at it. Because God has been lovingly saying the same thing to humanity
11:52for centuries. If it hurts your soul, don't live there. If it separates you from me, let it go. If
12:03it keeps
12:04wounding you, stop feeding it. You see, you are not called to endure avoidable pain. You are called to walk
12:15in
12:15wisdom. And wisdom. And wisdom? Well, wisdom often sounds simple. But you know what? It changes everything.
12:28I'm Douglas Vandergraaf, and I believe in Jesus Christ. God bless you, my friends. Bye-bye.
12:39Have a great day.
12:40Bye-bye.
12:40Bye-bye.
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