Men and the Power of Inertia

By Mike Sanders

Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. 

This means that objects at rest like to stay at rest, and objects in motion like to stay in motion. To put it another way, objects have the tendency to keep on doing what they’re doing and will resist change. This is called inertia. We might even say that objects are comfortable in the state they find themselves in. With that, it takes an outside force to initiate the change.

To shed a bit more light on this, let’s imagine a soccer ball resting on the ground. It is pretty happy sitting on the ground, soaking up the sun and enjoying the breeze. When little Timmy comes up behind it and gives it a good kick, he changes its inertia, and the ball takes flight. The ball begins to fly and will continue to fly until something changes its speed, course, and flight. Those properties may be wind, gravity, or a tree, for example. 

What changed the soccer ball’s state? Timmy did. Timmy is the force that literally kicked the ball out of its restful state. Secondly, the force that stopped the ball could have been wind, gravity, or a massive oak. 

Now, let’s tie this all back into you. The soccer ball is a metaphor for you as a human.  Is it not true that we often choose the comfort of sitting back and resting even though we recognize that we have issues that need to be changed and improved upon? To put it differently, isn’t it true that we resist changing our state of being because we know it’s going to take work or we believe that there’s really no way for us to change? You can’t teach old dogs new tricks, right?

On the other hand, isn’t it true that sometimes we continue following a path that we know we need to stop following, but we allow the inertia to carry us anyway? I think that if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that many times we’re like that soccer ball  — resistant to change.

Now, let’s talk about Timmy, wind, gravity, and trees. These are metaphors for the forces that will ultimately change the state of inertia of an object. The strongest force you have available to you is your will. The only way we can improve is to will it into existence. We have to want to make a change and take one small step that turns into a giant leap for mankind. You are much more powerful and capable of changing your inertia than you think.

Better yet, when you fully surrender your will to Jesus Christ, you gain access to the wind of the Holy Spirit, which is an eternal fuel source for inertia to advance the Kingdom.

 In science, the Law of Causality states that everything that comes to be needs a cause. You, born in the image of God, have the most amazing gift of causal power. You can make things happen in the world. For example, you are choosing to read this right now. You are causing this information to come into your brain for potential use later. 

So, what are you going to do now? What needs to be changed? What bad habits do you need to stop engaging in? What can you do today to become a little bit better than you were yesterday? It’s time to give yourself a little kick. 

You are a man. You are the force to change yourself and the world around you. Go forth and make a change.  Subdue and take dominion.

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