Play offence rather than defence
When Social Psychologist Roy Baumeister monitored workers in Germany, he was surprised to find that people spent between 3 and 4 hours per day resisting desires, the most common of which were urges to eat, sleep, and take a break from work. But Baumeister also found that people with strong self-control spent less time resisting desires than other people did. At first he was puzzled. If self-control is for resisting desires, why are people who have more of it using it less? Soon the explanation emerged: They’re better at proactively arranging their lives to tackle their fears of what might happen. These are the folks who take the car to the garage before it breaks down, and give themselves enough time to finish a project. They play offence instead of defense—which means they set themselves up so they have a realistic chance of facing their fear head on. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
