The title is pretty wrong.

Very wrong.

Dangerously wrong.

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Part one of this thought comes from a Steven Furtick sermon that I heard not too long ago, and he says this as one of the phrases that people should just stop saying.

There are two things that are dangerous about this phrase.

First, I don’t think we can do anything we want. Because that is making the assumption that what we want is good, which isn’t always the case. Furthermore, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

If you put your mind to it is a big call too. It implies that the only barrier to anything is motivation. I know right now that I will never be an NBA basketballer. That will not change no matter how much effort I put in, or how much I “put my mind to it”.

There are specific gifts and talents that we are born with, that don’t necessarily match up with our expectations all the time.

So we’re left with this:

1. The fact that perhaps we can’t do anything we want, and that maybe the things we want aren’t good for us either.

2. The fact that there are more things in the way than our motivation. And sometimes it’s not about picking between good and bad, between right and wrong. How does this phrase help with choosing between good and good? Or between what is good and what is best?

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How do we even know?

–> Reflections on this tomorrow morning.