How To Become Better
— presentation with slides
— by Stephen D Green with AI wording
Slide 1
Slide Title: The Question That Matters
Slide Content:
- How do people actually become better?
- Not richer. Not smarter. Better.
- If life has consequences, improvement matters.
Visual Suggestion:
A quiet road or path stretching forward; neutral tones, no symbols.
One of the most important questions any human being can face is how people actually become better. Not richer, not more successful, not more informed—but better in character, direction, and integrity. If our lives carry real weight, if our actions have consequences, and if we will one day be judged—by God, by truth, or by the lasting effects of what we have done—then improvement is not optional. A life that does not aim upward will inevitably drift downward. The question is not whether we are being shaped, but by what.
Slide 2
Slide Title: Two Common Paths
Slide Content:
- Indulgence: pleasure as improvement
- Intelligence: knowledge as improvement
- Both promise growth
Visual Suggestion:
A forked path or two diverging arrows.
Most people attempt improvement in one of two ways. The first is indulgence: believing that greater satisfaction, comfort, or pleasure will lead to a better life. The second is intelligence: believing that more knowledge, sharper thinking, or superior reasoning will make us better people. Both paths promise growth, and both can achieve results. Yet neither reliably produces moral strength, integrity, or lasting goodness, which is what truly matters when life is weighed.
Slide 3
Slide Title: The Problem With Indulgence
Slide Content:
- Appetite does not create freedom
- Excess weakens responsibility
No life is improved by being ruled by desire
Visual Suggestion:
Soft-focus image of excess fading into emptiness (abstract, not graphic).
Indulgence does not create freedom; it creates dependence. When life becomes ruled by appetite—whether for food, pleasure, substances, gambling, or ease—it weakens responsibility, damages relationships, and narrows the soul. Satisfaction may feel like progress in the moment, but over time it erodes self-command. No one looks back on a life diminished by excess and calls it improvement when truth and accountability are taken seriously. It can even result in criminality.
Slide 4
Slide Title: The Problem With Intelligence Alone
Slide Content:
- Knowledge increases power
- Power without direction multiplies harm
- Being clever is not the same as being good
Visual Suggestion:
A bright light casting a long shadow, or a tool beside a warning sign.
The second path is intelligence. We assume that if we know more, think more clearly, or reason more accurately, we will become better people. Intelligence certainly has value, but it does not guarantee goodness. Knowledge increases power, not character. A highly intelligent person may solve complex problems, invent powerful tools, or master difficult ideas—and still act selfishly, cruelly, or destructively. History shows that brilliance without moral direction can magnify harm rather than prevent it. Being clever is not the same as being good.
Most people mix both of these paths, while some focus on one or the other.
Slide 5
Slide Title: A Third Way
Slide Content:
- Not indulgence
- Not intellect alone
- A life led by spirit
Visual Suggestion:
A single upward path or a subtle light breaking through clouds.
If indulgence fails to improve us, and intelligence alone fails to improve us, then we must look for a third way. That way is the life of the spirit. This does not reject the body or the mind, but it rises above them. Spirit is the part of us capable of governing desire, correcting thought, and choosing what is right even when it is costly. It is the inner capacity to live from the inside out rather than reacting to every impulse or opinion.
Slide 6
Slide Title: What We Mean by “Spirit”
Slide Content:
- The ability to rise above impulse
- The strength to choose what is right
- Living from the inside out
Visual Suggestion:
A calm human silhouette with light at the center (abstract, non-religious).
By spirit, we do not mean emotion, enthusiasm, or religious excitement. Spirit is moral strength. It is the ability to say no when saying no is hard, and yes when yes requires sacrifice. It is what allows a person to act with integrity instead of convenience, with courage instead of fear. A life led by spirit is a life shaped by truth rather than appetite or pride.
Slide 7
Slide Title: Why Willpower Isn’t Enough
Slide Content:
- Determination without direction fails
- We must know what is worthy
- Direction must be higher than appetite or cleverness
Visual Suggestion:
A compass or navigation map with a clear heading.
Yet even this requires more than sheer willpower.
Determination without direction does not produce goodness; it produces stubbornness. To truly improve, we must know what is worthy of our effort—what is true, what is good, what deserves our loyalty. That direction cannot come from appetite, and it cannot come from clever reasoning alone. It must come from something higher than both, something that gives clarity, steadiness, and moral weight to our choices.
Slide 8
Slide Title: The Way Jesus Taught
Slide Content:
- Not rules, but transformation
- A call to become a different kind of person
- Truth lived, not just known
Visual Suggestion:
Simple image of people walking together; no overt religious iconography.
This is the way Jesus taught. He did not primarily offer rules to follow or theories to master, but a call to transformation. He pointed people away from lives driven by impulse or ego and toward lives shaped by truth, mercy, integrity, and self-giving love. His focus was not outward performance, but inward renewal—becoming a different kind of person.
Slide 9
Slide Title: Beginning Again
Slide Content:
- Leaving lives driven by impulse
- Moving beyond intellect alone
- Choosing rebirth from the inside out
Visual Suggestion:
Sunrise or fresh morning light over a horizon.
To live this way requires a real beginning again. It means turning away from lives driven only by physical desire or mental cleverness and choosing a life led by the spirit. Jesus called this being born again—not a surface change, but a fundamental reorientation of what drives us. True improvement begins when the center of life shifts inward and upward.
Slide 10
Slide Title: When Life Is Led by Spirit
Slide Content:
- Love becomes steady and sincere
- Integrity replaces impulse
- Stability replaces chaos
Visual Suggestion:
Hands holding something fragile with care, or a steady flame.
When a life is led by spirit, love itself changes. Love becomes steady instead of impulsive, sincere instead of self-serving. Integrity replaces reaction. Stability replaces chaos. A person becomes less controlled by urges or opinions and more aligned with what is genuinely good. This kind of life does not promise ease, but it does offer wholeness.
Slide 11
Slide Title: What This Saves Us From
Slide Content:
- Living small and reactive
- Being ruled by desire or pride
- Standing unprepared when judgment comes
Visual Suggestion:
A shadow receding or weight being set down.
A spirit-led life saves us from being ruled by desire, pride, or fear. It saves us from living small, reactive lives that collapse under pressure or temptation. And it prepares us to stand honestly when judgment comes—having lived according to something greater than appetite or intellect alone. It is not escape from accountability, but readiness for it.
Slide 12
Slide Title: The Invitation
Slide Content:
- Live from the inside out
- Align with what is truly good
- Become the kind of person who can stand
Visual Suggestion:
An open door or open landscape, calm and hopeful.
The invitation, then, is simple but demanding: live from the inside out. Choose alignment with what is truly good. Become the kind of person who can stand upright in truth, love sincerely, and live with integrity. This is not about perfection, but about direction. Not merely being saved from failure, but becoming whole—at one with what is right, and with the life Jesus taught.
