Bouncing Like Tigger on the Inside

“I’m Tigger!” little Suzie shouted as she jumped up and down in the back seat of the car.  Her frazzled mother repeatedly asked her to stop bouncing.  “Be a nice little Tigger and sit down.”  “Precious, Mommy wants you to stop being so active right now.  Be a good girl and buckle up!”  Sweetheart, this is getting on Mommy’s nerves!”

Finally, realizing that her requests had fallen on deaf ears, Mother pulled to the curb and screeched to a halt.

“This is IT!” she shouted, “I’ve had ENOUGH!  If you don’t sit down and start behaving this minute, you are going to regret it, young lady!”

Instantly, the little girl stopped bouncing and settled down.

“That’s much better.” Said Mother.

As the car pulled from the curb, Susie muttered under her breath, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m bouncing like Tigger on the inside!”

As a pastor, one of my jobs is to help people behave themselves.  I have witnessed the tragic results of wrong choices and sinful misbehavior.

I’ve preached plenty of “behavioral” sermons on a wide variety of topics such as stealing, dishonesty, sexual immorality, unforgiveness, gossip, greed, grumbling and the like.

Yet, although most folks would agree that these vices should be eliminated from our lives, I’ve discovered that few actually live victoriously over them.  There’s a vicious pattern of struggle and failure.

            Try to behave – fail – feel bad – determine to do better.

            Try to behave – fail – feel bad – determine to do better.

            Try to behave – fail – feel bad – determine to do better.

Many people think that if they continue this cycle long enough, sooner or later, they’ll be able to live right.  There’s a big problem with this viewpoint – As long as you’re stuck in the mud, You won’t go anywhere by pushing the gas pedal to the floor – You’ll just spin your wheels and throw mud!

The bottom line issue here?  Even when we’re trying to “sit down” on the outside, we’re still “standing up” on the inside.  There’s something “Tiggerish” that rises up within us and knocks us off course.

The answer?  If you want to get out of the rut and experience genuine life change, you need to quit striving with human strength, and surrender completely to God. 

He can help you “become” on the inside what you’ve always wanted to be – and out of that “becoming”, the “behaving” will naturally flow.