How to be consistent in life - Part I

For many years, I have always wondered why some people find it difficult to be consistent in life and this lack of consistency is doing more damage to their lives than they perhaps even realize. Some others have come to realize the harm of inconsistency, but they just seem not to be able to get over it. Your consistency is a great determinant to how far you can go in life, and how much you will ever achieve. In this first part, I will focus on a key factor in being consistent and that will be what you truly believe.

Over the years I have come to realize from my personal experience, and from my dealings with other people that what you know isn’t necessarily what you believe. There could be a gap between what you know and what you believe, and the larger the gap between these two, the more inconsistent your life is likely to be.

Interestingly, what you truly believe is really what is driving your life, and not what you know. It is just like having two individuals in a car with one of them on the driver seat driving the car, while the other person is sitting back. The other person sitting back may once in a while offer some suggestions to the person driving as they both drive along, and the driver may choose to heed the suggestion or not. But what you will find there is that at a critical point or in an emergency situation, there will be no time for suggestions from the other person sitting back, hence, the driver will make his own decision and that decision could determine whether both of them get to live after that experience or not. In like manner, what you truly believe is on the driver seat of your life. Once in a while, you will act based on what you know, but in many instances, particularly in a critical situation, what you believe will take precedence over what you know, and you will only respond to life based on what you believe.

There are many believers who seem to know what the word of God says concerning them, either by what they have encountered by themselves from the word or by what they have been taught, but those things have not settled deep in their heart and so you will find out that their experiences in life do not justify what they know. So, while it is a good thing to know, you must go beyond knowing to letting what you know settle deep in your heart so it can begin to pilot your life.

You will find it to be rather contrasting when you see someone in whose life there is a huge gap between what that person knows and what they believe. I have often encountered people like this; they seem to have a fair knowledge of the word of God and of life generally, but when it comes to taking certain actions, the actions they take don’t justify their knowledge. So, in actual fact for such individuals, there is a huge gap between their knowledge and what they truly believe.

While we must admit that there could be a little gap sometimes between what you truly believe and what you know, it is your responsibility to ensure you close that gap as much as you can. The simple way to begin to do this is by giving more thoughts to what you know, till the thoughts take root in your heart, and then you go on to begin to act on them. 

Mark 4:24 (AMP) Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement [that is, to the extent that you study spiritual truth and apply godly wisdom] it will be measured to you [and you will be given even greater ability to respond]—and more will be given to you besides.

At the start, this may appear to be foolish to you, and at other times it may be inconvenient for you, but as you close the gap there, you will begin to notice a consistency between what you know and what you believe. Ultimately, your life will greatly improve and you will be able to help others also.

Shalom!