Self-Control
What Is The Difference Between Legalism And Discipline
by on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am
If we were to discover that Peyton Manning arrived at the Colts practice facility two hours before every practice to review game film and get a mental step ahead of his opponents, most of us would call this leadership or excellence in effort.
If Phil Michelson told us that he refused to drink caffeinated beverages while playing in professional tournaments in order to prevent cramping or sluggishness on the course, we would probably see a huge drop in soft drink sales at golf courses throughout the country.
If Dave Ramsey, a multi-millionaire who dug out of poverty by relentlessly keeping his spending habits in check, consistently saved and invested, and built his debt-free business from the ground-up, told his radio audience that he achieved great financial wealth by eating out only once a month instead of regularly, those of us who listen to him would start freeing our own calendars out of belief in his example and respect for his discipline.
Yet, when our pastors call on us to moderate our consumption of movies, alcohol, hobbies, or pursuit of worldly wealth, we immediately cry out, “that’s legalism!” When they wish to speak about discipline on Sundays, we close our ears because we do not care for more messages that amount to legalistic pronouncements.
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12 Ways To Keep Spiritually Strong Over Christmas Break, Pt. 1
by on Dec 7th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Yeah, so last week, I promised to write about the difference between legalism and discipline only to leave you in silence. I came down with a strong illness that had me bed-ridden for a couple of days so I had to discipline myself to rest instead of pushing through the process of writing and doing other projects. If you will forgive me, I want to put that initial project on hold for a week in order to get to something that I had planned for this week a long time ago.
Because the largest demographic of readers of this site is composed of college students, I wanted to offer some words of encouragement and advice about your upcoming Christmas break, which I’m sure you are more than ready to experience. The thought of three or four weeks of freedom from school is a wonderful luxury that you will get only a few times in your life so I would not be surprised if most of you are thrilled for it to arrive. However, there are others who do not view such a break with such enthusiasm. They are concerned for what it can do to their spiritual condition or for what challenges wait for them as they return to difficult situations at home or church.
Every January, without fail, I have dozens of men who return to campus fired up and excited to be back in such a spiritually stimulating environment because their time at home proved to be a huge step backward in their relationship with God and their struggle against habitual sin. I experienced this as a student when I left a Christian bubble for the “real world.” My college friends often found January to be a release from a time of spiritual struggle at home, and when you think about it, we should not be surprised that Christmas break can ironically be a spiritually destructive time for college students.
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12 Ways To Keep Spiritually Strong Over Christmas Break, Pt. 2
by on Dec 8th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Here are some more suggestions for making your Christmas break a time of spiritual growth instead of struggle or defeat:
Suggestion #4 - Write Christmas Cards
While I was at college, I developed many strong and sweet friendships with men and women who were positive spiritual influencers. Part of my holiday struggles came from the fact that I left an environment where I could easily find one or two of these friends and engage in a meaningful activity or conversation to an environment in which I might be around such people only once or twice a week. The loneliness or lack of passionate disciples of Christ throughout the majority of my days could have been discouraging, but the activity of writing Christmas cards was a way to keep the connections strong.
Whether you have money to buy a pack of cards or can only afford to use blank paper, get the addresses of your friends before leave school, bring a pen home with you, and write one or two letters each day throughout the break. Don’t type them or e-mail them, write them with your own hand.
Letter-writing is a lost art today, and we are not the better for it. When you write with your own hand, the process takes longer, and that is the point. You become more engaged in the process of thinking about the person and what you want to communicate to them. Just thinking about them can bring to mind the encouraging words or actions that they have given to you over the course of your friendship. A quick text, tweet, or e-mail will not give you time to think this deeply about them. By slowing down to write (and with three or four weeks of break you will have plenty of time to go slow), you make your message more personal and provide them an encouraging shot in the arm when they get something in the mail that was never expected. Finally, you will find that investing this time and effort to talk to friends that are spiritually encouraging to you will cause that sense of accountability to remain vibrant.
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12 Ways To Keep Spiritually Strong Over Christmas Break, Pt. 3
by on Dec 9th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Suggestion #7 - Plan Your Downtime
Downtime can be more dangerous to a man than any other time of the day, week, year, career, or life. When we have goals, objectives, an audience, or a source of accountability, we can excel at whatever we are trying to do or be, but when there is no objective, plan, audience, or source of accountability, we can get into all kinds of trouble. I am not saying that downtime is inherently evil. Having a space of time without responsibilities can be a gift, and part of Christmas break should be to embrace that gift. You will only get four of them!
The danger for us in downtime is not in the having it as much as it is in not having a plan for it. Over the past four school years, I have counseled dozens of men who have struggled and given in to viewing pornography. I often ask them to write out how they utilized the time in their past week. Without fail, the period of time in which they engaged in viewing pornography was the time that was unstructured, unplanned, or unscripted. Additionally, they were also alone during that downtime.
During Christmas break, you might have long stretches of time where you are alone and/or free from responsibility. If you don’t have a job, spend time serving others, or minister at your church, you could have weeks of nothing to do. This is a spiritually deadly place to be if you do not actually see these periods of time coming and make plans in advance to avoid the sinful traps lie in waiting for you there.