Habits Eat Willpower for Breakfast

“When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’” (Luke 5:4-5)

"Habits eat willpower for breakfast," is a quote by John Ortberg in his book "Soul Keeping: Caring for the Best Part Of You." We often think that we can do it ourselves. I have enough willpower to overcome this (whatever it is). Sometimes though, our best is not  enough and situations arise that are out of our control. This is especially true with those sinful habits that plague us. Even the apostle Paul fought with this (Rom.7:23), and admitted that he was not strong enough.  Yet, he did not resign himself to his sin or his habits.  He understood and taught that it is only when we surrender ourselves to Christ that we can find freedom from the compulsion and habits that plague us.  

It is a humbling and embarrassing thing to admit that I can't do something.The Bible calls it confession, and it can be tough. In the quote at the beginning of the article, think about how hard it must have been for Simon Peter to admit failure to Jesus. He was a professional fisherman, and good at it. It was how he made his living, yet, his way wasn't working. It wasn't until he gave up and admitted that the Lord was right (even though it didn't make sense to him) that he caught the fish. What causes us to be like this?

• PRIDE gets in the way. We don’t want anybody to think that we  can’t handle something. You’re in charge. You've got it all together. 
• Stubbornness. You’re unwilling to change the way you’re doing things because you're right and everyone else is wrong. You'll prove it...or die trying!
• Fear.  You think that people will think less of you. You’re afraid to get Jesus into your boat because he’ll steer it in a direction YOU don’t want to go or aren't ready to give up.

How have you let pride, stubbornness, or fear keep you from admitting  that you NEED  God to be at the center of your life?  Do you have a war going on inside yourself like Paul? To quote the modern music artist Big Daddy Weave, "Stop fighting a fight that has already been won!" God will show you the way if YOU will LET HIM! 

Jim

FRACTURED

Jas.1:7,8 A person who has doubts shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. A person who has doubts is double minded and unstable in all of his ways

Word studies are interesting, especially when we often take things for granted. Words convey pictures and sometimes we paint the pictures too softly. Such is the case with Jas.1:8 where it talks about the "double minded man" which we often take as a hypocrite. Yet, there is more to this picture that James paints with this word.  The English rendition of this has multiple meanings whereas the original Greek is more precise. The word for "double minded" is "dispsuche (pronounced dis-soo-keh)" and literally translated is "dis-spirited" or "double spirited or double souled." James is describing a person possessed of two souls - one that says it follows God and the other following after something or someone else. They shouldn't expect anything from God because they do not love God with all of their heart. Their heart or soul is split, or to be more blunt - FRACTURED.  We use this term to describe the state of bones, while not broken all the way through they have a line or fracture that prevents the bone from being whole. As such, it cannot stand the rigors and use of a fully intact bone in the skeletal structure and as a result render a person lame. This is the way that James is describing the soul or spirit that is of two minds. Jesus stated it this way, "the eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Mt.6:22-24)"

The point of the above is that you cannot serve God with a fractured soul. Either God has to mend the soul by taking away the fracture to make the person whole, or the fracture makes us useless for God.  This said, if I am fractured, the only way to be made whole is, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mk.2:17)"  If I am whole, I dJimo not need mending so consider what Paul states in Gal.6:1 "Brothers and sisters, if a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted."  Have you ever stopped to consider that those who are in need of Christ, those who trapped in wrongdoing, hypocrisy, etc. are FRACTURED souls? Broken and in need of mending?   This is an interesting thing because it also tells us not only their condition, but also how they may react. Just as in life, you have those that understand that something is broken, it hurts, so you get it repaired or fixed before it causes you even more problems.  Then, there are those who have fractures but never go to the physician to have it looked at because they are in denial. They don't need a doctor because "ain't nothin' wrong."  Then you have those that have fractures, that know that they have a fracture but believe they can tough it out and survive with a broken limb until they realize that it is too late. These do not realize that infection, deformity and further damage can be caused by leaving it untreated. 

When I see a person with a fracture or break, my own body reacts with a twinge of pain because I know how it feels. I was glad when someone took me to the doctor so that I could get treatment, mending, and be made whole again. Do you react with pain when you see a FRACTURED soul? Do we try to or offer help?  When you see yourself (Jas.1:25) is your own soul whole? Or do you find yourself fractured - saying you are serving God but in actuality giving yourself to something else?

Maybe it's time to look into the mirror? Maybe it is time to see the world for what it is. Fractured!

Jim

DIRT!

God is not defined by words. God IS the Word itself. Infinite - without beginning or end. Gen.2:7 states, "Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living soul." The word used or "soul" is the word "nephesh" which can be translated a number of ways - living being, soul, etc. We are living, but a living what? This is a difficult thing for us to wrap our minds around, because we process things through words and descriptions. Yet, how do you define the undefinable? God can be seen in all things if you look hard enough for Him. On our trip this past week, we met an interesting man who was a tour guide for us, that I think gave one of the best pictures of what we are as stated in Gen.2:7. It was just Ann, myself, and him. We engaged in a lot of conversation regarding the historical Bahamas. In our conversations he drove us by some of the oldest churches there and we began talking about spiritual things. It was an enlightening discussion - I think for all of us. In the conversation we started talking about what matters, and he made a comparison that I had not heard before, yet - was so true. He told us about how as a younger man he had gone off track as most do until he came to a point where he realized things had to change. He could not continue the path that he was on and could see where the road was leading him. In his own terms he stated, “I came to realize that dis was a bad place to be. So I asked, Father God please show me de truth. So, I picked up my Bible and as I was meditatin' on de word of God, Father God show me that all dis is nothin' but dirt. Dis world, these buildings, even de money in your pocket is all dirt. We are but dirt. De drugs and stuff that people put in their bodies to try to escape from life – it just passes through the body and guess what! It become dirt! All these fancy clothes...all made from dirt and all they do is cover your nakedness. An' then...they go back to dirt. So, Father God say to me, Why you living for DIRT? Wake up your spirit man – you are better than dirt! Let me show you how to live longer than the dirt!”

Such a profound discussion and story from this man whom we had never met, yet we talked to in such spiritual intimacy. Ann and I felt blessed that God had granted us such an adventure.

What about you? Have you considered this? Everything we are in this world, everything we have, everything there is in this world – came from and will again become DIRT! Pick it up in your hand. People who have been before us, and even those who will come after us, many of them will live, breathe, eat and die for dirt. Not much of an investment is it? Eccl.3:20 states, “All life goes to the same place. All life comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground.” It begs the question, what are you living for? Are you living for dirt only to become dirt? Eccl.12:7 states, “Then the dust of mortals goes back to the ground as it was before, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it.” The better question is the one Mr. Anderson observed, “Wake up your spirit man – you are better than dirt! Let me show you how to live longer than the dirt!” Dirt, has a beginning and an end. Only the spirit is eternal. God created us out of the dirt of the earth, but made us to be much better! Are we letting God show us how to live better than and longer than Dirt? 

Jim

BOOK REVIEW: Soul Keeping Caring For the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg

The title above is a book I have been reviewing written by John Ortberg. I have had this book for a while, simply not having time to review it.  My wife and I went on a trip to the Bahamas and I knew that we would be on a plane for a while. So, I decided that this would be a good time to catch up. I wish I had done this sooner. I'm not writing this to simply laud a book. I honestly was blown away and am still blown away by this book. My first impression of the book was that it would be a sleepy ho-hum read. The introduction was as I expected and the first couple of chapters along with the title had me believing that this was going to be the typical "sermon" type stuff that I have read countless times. But then, I noticed several comments being made that I highlighted. Nice...I thought, I'll have to remember that.  Then I noticed that my highlights were becoming more and more, and I noticed myself going back and re-reading things again. This was the first time that I had ever seen anyone go outside of a clinical definition of the soul and get to the root. It was becoming very eye opening and is one of the best expose on the human eternal spirit that I have seen. I found myself searching out my own soul and discovering that I have not been the best keeper of one of the most precious gifts that God had offered. I discovered that my "crutches" were toothpicks and found myself jarred out of the nestled complacency that I had allowed myself to get used to. 

I have not found a negative in this book. What I thought was going to be blah-blah became a tsunami of soul searching. I heartily recommend this book for personal reading. Churches need to teach this for a curriculum. Preachers and church leaders need to read this book for personal investigation. You need this book!

Mr, Ortberg - Well done and well written.

Jim