Lust: Seven Deadly Sins - Virtue: Self-Control

Lust: According to Os Guinness and others, "idolizing of sex in the sense of an unethical and unrestrained expression of the sexual impulse (promiscuity, pornography, adultery, incest, seduction, prostitution, and unnatural vice). Characterized by self-deception and dehumanization. Sexual activity whose ultimate expressive purpose is violated for the sake of immediate sexual pleasure.

This observation on Lust vs. Self-Control is straight from http://www.whitestonejournal.com/

They say it better than me anyways.

Self-control and self-mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive fore pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.

Back to my own thoughts. If you are trapped by lust or sexual sin, feel that you have the scarlet letter branded on to you and you can never escape, know that Jesus can set you free. I don't say that lightly, I mean it. He is powerful enough. This sin doesn't have to have mastery over you. Day by day trust Christ, tell someone trustworthy in the Christian community that you want to be free. He will set you free as you trust him daily and renounce this sin. I am not saying it will be easy or that you might not have some set backs. But God is more powerful than lust.

Envy: Seven Deadly Sins

I continue sharing my notes on the seven deadly sins.

                                                       Envy

Sorrow for another's good. Wishing to see other's brought low because you cannot rejoice in their good fortune. Usually we're envious of those doing something similar to us, those with the same passions, gifts, hobbies, line of work, or a similar calling. According to Lance Webb, envy is self-love unable to permit anyone to rise or excel above one's own superiority, with resulting hate, jealousy, intolerance, prejudice, slander, gossip, and use of sarcasm or more violent means of leveling others to one's own height.


The opposite virtue of envy is love.

I quote from http://www.whitestonejournal.com/ again:

Love is patient, love is kind. Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.

Back to my own thoughts.

Does envy and pride keep many in the church from working together? I think so. If a church or denomination does not minister our way, or even think our way, sometimes we let those things keep us from working together for the common good, those differences keep us from furthering the kingdom of God and create internal, familial squabbles and even wars. This too is sin. We can all find common ground to further the cause of Christ, even if we do not worship together, can't we?


artwork from: http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/moodpainting-5-green-with-envy-angela-mustin.jpg

Greed: Seven Deadly Sins

I thought I'd share some notes I've collected about the seven deadly sins.
After all, we are to repent when necessary. These notes are taken the whitestone journal (http://www.whitestonejournal.com/), The Catholic Encyclopedia, Phyllis Tickle's Greed, C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, Kathleen Norris' Acedia, Lance Webb's Conquering the Seven Deadly Sins and Os Guiness' Steering Through Chaos, and my own experience.

Greed (Avarice) - can be disguised as thriftiness. Phyllis Tickle notes it is, " the sin of apostasy, of desiring life subject to human control over a life of vulnerable trust in the unseen." A fear of helplessness or loss of control can turn into a lust for power as a way of presenting an undesirable situation. Coventeousness.

From http://www.whitestonejournal.com/


Power

In this form, earthly goods are chiefly a means to an end . . . to achieve personal power. These things can be used to intimidate or bribe others, reinforce one's own illusions about what is important or to build up a feeling of success. The real problem here is a desire for power rather than actual greed.

To destroy our desire for power, we must be generous in granting power to others. When appropriate, be submissive to others. Avoid jobs that are a temptation for a "power grab." Share credit for successes with others, and claim a fair share of responsibility for failures being blamed on others. The idea is to stop trying to control everything and everyone.

The Greed of Fear

Fear is a poor motivator for virtue, but an excellent one for greed. Sometimes greed is simply to have so much that we can't possibly run out. If we acquire enough stock, real estate . . . we think we will be safe from want. This is an illusion.

Part of the cure may be to embrace poverty. We may not become homeless, but we can learn to do with less. "Live simply that others may simply live." Once this kind of freedom is practiced, we realize we don't need much anyway.

Japan. Self-Denial. Humility. Charity.

There has been a horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan. With the world I pray for those immediately affected and as well as family and friends far an near. Lord have mercy on them and send your help! May we help however we can.

Here is William Law to tell us about what such a Christ-life would look like:

William Law (1686-1761)


"If self-denial be a condition of salvation, all that would be saved must make it a part of their ordinary life. If humility be a Christian duty, then the common life of a Christian is to be a constant course of humility of all kinds. If poverty of spirit be necessary, it must be the spirit and temper of every day of our lives. If we are to relieve the naked, the sick, and the prisoner, it must be the common charity of our lives, as far as we can render ourselves able to perform it. If we are to love our enemies, we must make our common life a visible exercise and demonstration of that love. If content and thankfulness, if the patient bearing of evil be duties to God, they are the duties of every day and in every circumstance of our life. If we are to be wise and holy as the newborn sons of God, we can no otherwise be so but by renouncing everything that is foolish and vain in every part of our common life. If we are be in Christ new creatures, we must show that we are so by having new ways of living in the world. If we are to follow Christ, it must be our common way of spending every day."

A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life p. 51-52.

God Offers Us Comfort in the Wilderness of Suffering and Difficulty

Comfort.

 “The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing” (Isaiah 51:3-4).


When our souls are tragically ripped from us, when searing wilderness pain has us begging for death instead of life, God gently comforts us. When we’re in the midst of unimaginable pain, it may be hard for us to believe that God will comfort us, for our pain continues unabated. But God, unlike many others, doesn’t expect us to quickly snap out of pain-induced depression. And he doesn’t endorse well-meant but ill-timed Christian platitudes like, “God has a plan for all of this,” when it takes supernatural strength for us just to cope with a new day.

No. He knows we’re human—that we mourn and suffer and shake our fists in anger because of the seeming injustice of it all. He understands suffering. And when the pain is most tender, the Holy Spirit quietly makes us aware that God is sitting with us in the wilderness, and like a mother with a young child, God beckons us to lay our heads down in his lap so he can gently and lovingly stroke our foreheads.

At first we resist, sobbing, shaking, screaming, pounding our fists in hysterics, demanding answers, trying to make sense of it all. Like a young child, we lack the maturity to comprehend the meaning of the soothing answers God offers.

But as his love and kindness penetrate our fitful senses, our sobs and soul seizures cease. Slowly we begin to calm down. Again we bury our wet faces in his lap, using his robe to wipe away tears and runny noses. Although there’s been little change in our circumstances, we feel a slight but perceptible shift inside of us as we gaze into his face. Somehow we feel comforted even without having received satisfactory answers. In the wilderness, God sits with us as we absorb little doses of his comfort and peace, until we are strong enough to stand up on our own.

~ Marlena

God Tests Our Callings In The Wilderness

Why would God call us to do something and then allow much difficulty and travail to come our way as we seek to be obedient? I am not completely sure. But as I take a look at Scripture I can recall many whose callings were tested--who suffered while being obedient. I've written about this before, but I'll write about it again today to encourage myself and anyone who might stumble upon this site. Let's seek mutual encouragement from God's word.

Abraham. At seventy-five years old, he moved. In Genesis 12, God told him to leave his country. He went to Canaan, a foreign land--where he was unknown and unappreciated. He was going because God told him that he would bless him there and that he and Sarai would have plentiful offspring although she was childless and barren. God said, "Just look at the stars and the grains of sand in the desert and you'll get an idea of how I will bless you forever. You will be a blessing to the entire earth."

But the problem was that Abraham and Sarah were really old. Sarah heard God's prediction and laughed--God's prediction was so unbelievable. At least twenty-five years lapsed between Abraham's call in Haran and Isaac's birth in Canaan. Do you think Abraham could've imagined at the outset that it'd be twenty-five years before God fulfilled the first part of his promise--offspring? No, Abraham couldn't imagine it. Both he and Sarah got tired of waitng, so they took matters into their own hands. Abraham slept with Hagar and Ishmael was born. God still fulfilled his promise to Abraham through Isaac, but there was great strife in the family because of Abraham and Sarah's disobedience (a disobedience resulting from impatience). Twenty-five years is a long time to wait.

Joseph. Some say he was an arrogant young man. He dreamed that he'd be a ruler and that because of his leadership, many would be blessed. His older brothers would serve him. And he told them so. They responded, "Oh really?" and tossed him in a pit. "How do you like them apples Joseph? You're lucky we don't kill you." You probably know the rest of the story. Joseph was sold as a slave, falsely accused, and forgotten for years while he spent day after day in jail until the moment that Pharoah needed someone to interpret his dreams. Why didn't God make Joseph ruler soon after his dreams (divine revelation)? Perhaps God needed that much time and those particular circumstances to form Joseph into the leader he desired.

Moses. At forty years old, he was probably being groomed to inherit Pharaoh's throne. Although a Hebrew, he was adopted by the Egyptian princess (Pharaoh's daughter) and brought up in the lap of luxury, courtside. Some how or other, he had an intuition that he was supposed to do something on behalf of the Hebrews. Perhaps he was to deliver his people from Egyptian oppression. He'd start by helping that poor fellow over there, abused by an Egyptian overseer. He killed the overseer for abusing the poor fellow and then fled to the wilderness lest Pharaoh should execute him.

Forty years he spent in the wilderness. It was not Egypt. On the contrary, it was monotonous, excruciatingly difficult to live in, and lacked the society he had grown accustomed to. Although he had a family he loved, this was not the life he pictured for himself. During Moses' forty years in the wilderness, God put to death the Egyptian life in Moses. Moses probably thought his life was over, that he'd live the rest of his days not as a deliverer, but as fugitive. And then when he was 80 years old, God called him to deliver the Hebrews. By that time though, Moses had no self-confidence left. He didn't think he was the man for the job. I am sure that as he reflected on his own life during those forty long years, he probably figured that the aspirations he had as a forty year-old were pipe dreams.

David. Samuel anointed him king at a young age. But did David take the throne right away? No. He spent between 14-20 years in the wilderness as a captive, as Saul's prey. David and his family probably thought that Samuel had it all wrong-that he wasn't supposed to be king after all. He had many trials and tribulations before he ascended to the throne. And then because of disobedience, he had many more. Yet despite David's sin (and our own) God was faithful to his promise to David and to those before him (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob). 14-20 years is a long time to wait for God's promise.

Jesus. He is God and he knew that while on earth. The problem was, not even his own family believed in him at first. Neither did most of his hearers. He lived in obscurity for thirty years, growing in stature and wisdom in order that he might turn the world upside down in only three years. Even in Gethsemane, he asked the Father to take the cup from him--if it were possible. Jesus' (God Almighty) call was tested over and over again.

So why are we surprised when our callings are tested? Why are we surprised that obedience to the call, becoming worthy of our calling, is difficult? We see that it is par for the course in biblical and post-biblical history. As saints, our callings are tested. But the thing is, if God has called us, and we've had external validation of our callings from the Church, then we need to press on.

But it is hard to do when we are apparently thwarted on every side. Sometimes, as a grain of wheat, we have to fall to the ground and die before the fruit of our toil and affliction grows (see Mark 12). I think of many martyrs whose life and death were the seeds of the church. Perhaps ours will be.

So today dear reader, whoever you may be, I comfort myself and maybe you with words of encouragement from Scripture. I am waiting to see God's faithfulness to me in the land of the living (if that is his will). After all, he is the one who has called me. But today, I deal again with what I perceive to be a setback or a rejection. I am tempted to despair. But this thing I know, I am to be faithful in the little things, faithful in the very things that are right in front of me. And I am to cherish everything around me while I am waiting on God--not despise the blessings that I have. I am to wait patiently and joyfully even in the wilderness of my calling.


Lenten Repost

God Reveals Our Identities in the Wilderness

Revelation of identity. Whether consciously or subconsciously, many of us spend our time searching for our identities, while others of us are desperately seeking to shed them in favor of becoming someone else. “Who am I?”, “Who can I become?”, and “Where do I belong?” are the questions that pull at us, motivating much of our behavior. Upon reflection, we find that deep inside of our souls dwells the haunting suspicion that who we are now is a mere phantom of who we’re supposed to be, or perhaps nowhere close to who we’re supposed to be. We’re half alive, searching for life, trying to find ourselves.

That is why the realization that God chooses to reveal who we are during our wilderness journey comes as such a shock. It is probably the last place we thought to look. It seems incredibly strange that God would reveal our identities in the crucible of life. But he often does.

During Lent I will not be writing new posts but will be scheduling reposts to be posted. These are some that I think are dandy. Blessings to you these 40 days as you walk with Christ through the wilderness.