The mongoose & cobra of self-control & feeling

Self-control is the steady capacity to direct yourself to accomplish what you have chosen or decided to do and be, even though you “don’t feel like it.” Self-control means that you, with steady hand, do what you don’t want to do (or what you want not to) when that is needed and do not do what you want to do (what you “feel like” doing) when that is needed. In people without rock-solid character, feeling is a deadly enemy of self-control and will always subvert it. The mongoose of a disciplined will under God and good is the only match for the cobra of feeling.

Once Oliver Cromwell, sitting in the midst of his bickering brethren, blurted out these wise words: “I beseech ye brethren, by the bowels of Christ, believe ye may be wrong!” One’s feeling of righteousness does not mean he is right and actually should alert him to be very cautious and humble.

They will carefully keep the pathway open to the house of reason and go there regularly to listen.

Feeling will then be sought for its own sake, and satisfaction in feeling alone always in turn demands stronger feeling. It cannot limit itself.

Addiction is a feeling phenomenon. The addict is one who, in one way or another, has given in to feeling of one kind or another and has placed it in the position of ultimate value in his or her life.

People are overwhelmed with decisions and can only make those decisions on the basis of feelings.

This is exactly the world of pointless activity portrayed in such staples of the contemporary American consciousness as television’s Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, and Will and Grace. pp. 125-127 SOURCE


 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Replacing/transforming our destructive ideas & images

Image
IMAGES: IDEAS PICTURED - Closely associated with governing ideas are images, which are concrete or specific as opposed to the abstractness of ideas. They are laden with feeling. In recent history, hair (long, short, skinhead, green, orange, purple) has provided powerful images of conflicting idea systems.  In many churches today, the services have divided into traditional and contemporary, so that the guitar and pipe organ are no longer just musical instruments but powerful symbols. Such divisions are not unimportant or sinful, but one does have to understand what drives such divisions in order to act responsibly in relation to them. Jesus carefully selected an image that conveys himself and his message: the cross. It presents the lostness of humans as well as the sacrifice of God and the abandonment to God that brings redemption. No doubt it is the all-time most powerful image and symbol of human history.  Ideas and images can be a stronghold of evil in the human self and
Read more

Distorted images of God

Image
Carefully placed images persuade us to forgo thinking and accept ideas we might normally question. For example, putting the flag of one’s country on a product or event aims to brand it as good and wholesome when it may not be. Images that seem benign in movies may also “teach” an idea that, if we thought about it, would appall us. But we unthinkingly accept the idea because we like the image.  TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Consider your images of God. While Scripture puts forth images such as breath and wind and fire and cloud, be honest with yourself: What really comes to mind when you think of God? For many, God is a benevolent giant who is too busy for them, a clever boss who pulls the rug out from under them just when they thought they knew what was going on, or a hard-nosed teacher who demands much of them. Give some thought to what ideas drive your images of God. What do you routinely think about God (even though you might never tell anyone at church)? Finish this sentence: G
Read more

Retaking our toxic thought life

Image
INFORMATION AND THE ABILITY TO THINK - Two other factors in our thought life can be used by God to break the power of the toxic system of ideas and images that make us dead to God. These are information (or facts) and our ability to think—to connect things in our mind.  After God has implanted new life from above in us by Word and Spirit, we must take the initiative in progressively retaking the whole of our thought life for God’s kingdom. Failure to know what God is really like and what his law requires destroys the soul, ruins society, and leaves people to eternal ruin: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” and “A people without understanding comes to ruin” (Hosea 4:6,14, NRSV).  This is the tragic condition of Western culture today, which has put away the information about God that God himself has made available. Spiritual formation requires thinking. The gospel of Jesus repudiates false information about God and the meaning of human life, and it works to und
Read more