To Be Or Not To Be--That Is The Question.

Heard this great piece of advice from a very wise guy today. He was talking about the difference between fighting against evil or doing good. You can fight against evil all you want, but that's not the most effective thing. The most effective thing is to do good. Focus on the solution, not the problem. Be good. Don't try to stop the bad. You stop the bad not by stopping the bad, but by being the good. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Stop trying not to do bad things, and DO good things! It is the way!!

In other words, don't try to get the bad "not to be"--"be" the good!!

See, you don't have to, nor should you, spend your life fighting the devil. He's already defeated. We are told only to resist Him, firm in the faith. Resisting him does not consist of hand to hand combat. You've no business engaging the enemy. Jesus already engaged the enemy for you, and won. What we are told to do, over and over, is good things. Tons of them. The whole Bible is filled with suggestions to do good, in a million different ways. The way to beat the enemy is not by hand to hand combat, but simply by ignoring him. I did not say living in ignorance of him. You may be aware of him, but you just don't listen to him, don't agree with him, and don't believe him. And you continue to listen to God, to believe God, and to agree with God. Then the things of God will come out of your mouth, and your life will be constructed His way, and the devil will have no power over you whatsoever. And you will live in the "be" and not in the "not to be".

The best defense is always a good offense. You run a good offense all of the time and it automatically puts your opponent on defense all the time. So you don't have to worry about defense. Plus, you build up enough momentum, and it will be near imposible to stop you.


Living on the defensive all of the time is the enemy's plan. It suggests that he's constantly attacking and you're constantly having to defend against him. This is a waste of time, and it will wear you out. You do not need to live that way. It is a deception. It requires only a shift of your thinking to see things differently and to live differently. You are already victorious, so live like it. Do good. Do all that God has designed you to do. Teach, love, sing, befriend, hike, camp, build, study, learn, help, enjoy, laugh, play, act, draw, write, create, invent, color, compose, work, carve, dance, photograph, lead, serve, encourage, cook, raise kids, show mercy, make peace, forgive, trust God, be in love, sculpt, run, swim, bike, etc. etc. etc. Etc.

Live in the positive, not the negative. Be. Do not "not be". Any bad habit must be replaced with a good one. You cannot just stop doing something. Otherwise there would be a void in the continuum of your existence. Something must fill that slot! Don't try to not do things!! The more you try to not do things, the more you will do them! You must do something different to fill the void. Something will occupy that space in your plane of existence. Want to stop sinning? Find something productive and do that. YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME TO SIN. There is only so much space in your plane of existence, and it must be filled with something!! BE!!! Be a writer, a singer, a jet pilot, a painter, a leader, an architect, a mathemetician, an inventor, an actor, a pastor, a director, a novelist, a drywaller, a carpenter, a plumber, a mom, a dad, a husband, a lover, a wife, a friend. You spend all your time trying to not be and you will not be!! Anything!!