Growing Together – Day 28: Self-Control
READ: 1 John 2:15-17 - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
“A moralist (someone trying to live a moral life, a self-controlled life) will be unsuccessful in trying to displace his love of the world by reviewing the ills of the world. Misplaced affections need to be replaced by the far greater power of the affection of the gospel…The love of the world cannot be expunged by a mere demonstration of the world’s worthlessness. But may it not be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than itself? ...The object of the gospel is both to pacify the sinner’s conscience and to purify his heart; and it is of importance to observe, that what mars the one of these objects mars the other also. The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure one; and by the love of what is good expel the love of what is evil. Thus it is that the freer the gospel, the more sanctifying is the gospel…” (Thomas Chalmers, from a sermon entitled: The Expulsive Power of A New Affection, )
REFLECT: Living with self-control means living in a way that reflects that we love God more than we love all the other stuff of life. The problem is that loving all the other stuff of life is how we are bent (since the fall), and pursuing God is hard fought ground that comes only with effort and God’s help. So, in addition to asking for God’s help, the question becomes - do we put our effort into stopping the bad things, or adding the good things?
I think it’s safe to say that we were all taught (at one point or another) to just stop doing the bad things – whatever they were. And in truth, that teaching may have saved our lives. It certainly spared me of a lot of heartache and negative consequences. However, that teaching will not help us establish a consistent, sustainable pursuit of Christ-likeness.
Pastor Chalmers in his sermon said, “the freer the gospel, the more sanctifying is the gospel.” The more we recognize how freely and recklessly we are loved by God, the more we will want to pursue Him. The more we are enamored with Him, and the less we are enamored with ourselves, the more He will captivate and renew our imaginations.
PLAN: We eat an elephant one bite at a time, so what are the small bites that you can take today, this week, this month? (I hope you know that old joke about eating an elephant - otherwise that is a very disturbing sentence.) What are the good things that can be filling your mind and pushing out the garbage? Plan them into your schedule. Put them on your calendar. Put them in your phone. Well-planned and Spirit-led are not mutually exclusive! :)
PRAY: Continue to ask for God’s help. It cannot happen without it.