In the December Issue of Relevant Magazine, Thomas Braune co-authored an article about he and a friend's undertaking of a 40 day liquid fast. They only made it 20 days. In their afterthoughts, the authors summarized what they learned from their experience.
Thomas wrote, "I realize how foolish I was about discipline. I regarded discipline as NOT FEELING the urge to do the things I really don't want or shouldn't do. It seems obvious now that discipline is really about feeling the urge to engage in certain behaviors but NOT DOING so anyways."
I would agree with Thomas on first thought, in that we often ask for urges to be taken away in order to overcome some things. But really in order for the urge to be removed it must first be defeated. And that can only be done by practicing self discipline.
John Eldridge, in his book Wild at Heart, makes a similar statement in several
chapters. He says that each urge, temptation, and invitation to participate in something that we shouldn't or don't want to do is a battle for our strength. Each time we give in to that urge we give away a part of our strength and become weaker. Each time we withstand the urge we rob it of some of its strength and power over us and we become stronger. Over time that urge begins to loose the power of temptation over us.
So stay Strong and grow Stronger.
Thomas wrote, "I realize how foolish I was about discipline. I regarded discipline as NOT FEELING the urge to do the things I really don't want or shouldn't do. It seems obvious now that discipline is really about feeling the urge to engage in certain behaviors but NOT DOING so anyways."
I would agree with Thomas on first thought, in that we often ask for urges to be taken away in order to overcome some things. But really in order for the urge to be removed it must first be defeated. And that can only be done by practicing self discipline.
John Eldridge, in his book Wild at Heart, makes a similar statement in several
chapters. He says that each urge, temptation, and invitation to participate in something that we shouldn't or don't want to do is a battle for our strength. Each time we give in to that urge we give away a part of our strength and become weaker. Each time we withstand the urge we rob it of some of its strength and power over us and we become stronger. Over time that urge begins to loose the power of temptation over us.So stay Strong and grow Stronger.
1 comment:
Good words, and words I need to hear this morning, my friend. Thank you.
Have you noticed that I've linked to you on my blog, but you haven't linked to me? Hmmmm.....;) J/K
Post a Comment