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Sound self-control
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Here is an incident before a plate of toffee bars I determined I would not eat, left over from the batch I made for John when he came to fix my printer. I had decided the matter last night, in a moment of self-control and with soundness of mind, before God. There is nothing wrong in general with eating toffee bars. But we do not live in general. Each of us lives unto God, and in my case, surfeit of even five pounds “hinders” (Hebrews 12:1).
The forms of temptation:
Frenzied, half-awake gorging right out of bed, followed by “Oops.”
“What harm can one more do?”
“It won’t make any difference.”
“They have oats and walnuts in them.”
“This voice in my head is not the Holy Spirit.”
“This is just my own silly rule, not God’s; I made it, I can break it.”
“Legalism.”
“As long as I’ve gone this far….”
“Who cares.”
“What in the world is real?”
The reader will observe that some of the above claims are mutually contradictory. As an aside I would like to add that concerted attention was required to even “hear” the temptations and record them for you because one of the hallmarks of the voices of temptation is their muffled, garbled, indistinct quality. Truth is lucid and logical; lies, not so. As Screwtape said, “It is funny how mortals always picture us putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
And I wonder how what just happened to me before a plate of toffee bars happens in other areas of my life.
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A matter of life
Self control comes and goes. Perhaps that is why we can’t look down our noses at others in their struggles, thinking ourselves superior, we may be there in ten minutes.
Not having self control in conjunction with not having any shame and not ever being able to be satisfied is what all terrorists and lefties (read political terrorists) have in common.
One of the missing elements in today’s Evangelical church is community. We somehow have come to believe that we all have to struggle with these self-control issues all by ourselves.
Is there anyone, Andree, in your circle of sisters who you can talk to on this level and decide what is “having a treat” and what is “over-indulgent”?
Having defined what is “flat-out relaps” vs. “behavior of concern” vs. “something I deserve” and then having the freedom to talk with that person as to how I did makes an incredible difference for me. Trying to fight the battle by isolated reasoning in my own head rarely works in my situation.
wonder aloud