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.
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How Did Jesus Deal With Temptation? Some Thoughts
by on Sep 8th, 2010 at 12:20 am
This past June, I was given the opportunity to preach at my home church, and I spoke on Satan’s tempting of Jesus at the early stages of His public ministry. My sermon was really the culmination of a long period of study and reflection on this passage, and I thought that you would find some of it useful.
We all face temptation, and the more aware we are of the seasons of temptation, as well as the nature of temptation, the sooner we will recognize our situation and seek the provision of God to rightly resist or flee temptation.
For the next several Wednesdays, I am going to break down this account and look at the ways in which Jesus was tempted, His responses, and how He has equipped us with the ability to resist Satan, but I will warn you that willpower will not be one of those tools.
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How Did Jesus Deal With Temptation? pt. 2
by on Sep 15th, 2010 at 8:40 am
So Jesus is led into the Wilderness by the Holy Spirit and faces testing at the hands of Satan (Luke 4:1-13). We learned last week that Satan picked his opportunity to tempt Jesus very carefully as he knew that Jesus was alone and physically vulnerable. Such demonic timing should be familiar to us because we tend to face great temptation at times when we are either alone, physically vulnerable, or a both.
The first type of temptation Satan offers Jesus is to make bread out of stone. Now, when I first began reading Scripture and heard about these tests of Jesus in the Wilderness, I had a hard time discovering why Satan’s offer was considered so tempting to Jesus. I certainly have never been tempted to eat rocks or make bread out of rocks. A closer look at who is involved in the temptation is necessary to arrive at an understanding as to why this temptation is so strong. Furthermore, knowing Jesus’ situation would help us to see why His response is so fitting.
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The Value Of Integrity
by on Sep 16th, 2010 at 12:20 am
One of the most valuable items in my office is really only worth twenty-five cents. I found it four years ago and immediately purchased the item because, contrary to its cheap shelf-price, its shelf life will prove it to be truly priceless.
Four years ago, I opened my office door to find a 3” x 5” index card resting on the floor. Because I work in a university dorm, students are stopping by my office at all hours of the day (or night), and my men have learned to slip things under the door if I’m not there. Therefore, the sight of something at the foot of the door is entirely common to me. What was uncommon was the nature of this index card.
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A Man and His Word
by on Sep 20th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
“O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart...Who swears to his own hurt and does not change” - Psalm 15:1-2, 4c, ESV
There are times in life when you know that you are entering a memorable moment. The speed of life crawls as if in slow motion. While most of life floats by unnoticed, you know that you will never forget what is happening in these unique times, and you pay special attention to every detail so that it is grafted into your long-term memory.
I experienced one of those moments a couple of years ago, and it is fitting that I honor the person who created it by sharing it with you. This moment is one that I fall back on from time to time when I’m tempted to take the easy way out of an agreement.
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I Have "Conviction" About The Discipline Of Rest
by on Sep 22nd, 2010 at 11:45 pm
My blog posts are usually written prior to the day itself, which allows us to post it as early as possible each morning. Therefore, I just have a quick one for today because I have been running hard for several weeks and needed to rest.
I am a workaholic. Taking breaks makes me uneasy and I have to learn how to be disciplined at resting. After all, if I’m going to be useful and energetic over the course of a lifetime, I will need to learn how to maintain a slower-than-frenetic pace, or at least implement periods of doing nothing. The soul never speeds up just because life wants the body to move faster. God knew what He was doing in implementing the Sabbath.
Therefore, I took the afternoon off and did not work at my work, reading, or writing for the blog. So, I thought that I would send you something that is sad, but true. For some reason, this poet’s comments resonated with me and perhaps they will with you because there is a grain of truth behind it. If anything, I’m glad he points out the uselessness that comes from people who speak without a personal investment in the claims they make.
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How Did Jesus Deal With Temptation? pt. 4
by on Sep 28th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
So, Satan has failed to unsettle Jesus’ faithfulness to the Heavenly Father’s provision and leadership, but he thinks that he has one good chance remaining. He takes Jesus to the edge of the temple and tries to corner Jesus’ desire to obey God’s Word by using Scripture against Him.
“Throw yourself off this wall and fulfill Psalm 91:11-12,” is what he recommends to Jesus. After all, if Jesus wants to follow God’s Word He wouldn’t refuse to act on what is written. If Jesus wants the people to recognize Him as Messiah, which He is, then what better way could there be to prove it than by attempting suicide and forcing divine intervention to come into clear view of the spectators below? They will see a man rescued from certain death and treat Jesus as special, which is what Jesus ultimately wants. Again, the means are thrown aside by Satan because the end seems justified.