Comments on: Involuntary Self-Denial and Relationship Breakdown

By: Common Swift

Common Swift — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:55:29 +0000

QUOTE:

”The problem with sacrifices that are still alive is it’s hard to keep ‘em from crawling off the altar. I know I find it hard. It’s uncomfortable, mighty uncomortable, staking the old man to the altar to die. That old man is me, and I don’t like it there, under God’s knife. I keep wanting to crawl off the spot. But like Paul who beats his body daily into submission, you and I both have to make constant decisions about this thing called character.

“We’re not called disciples for nothing. It does, indeed, take discipline.”

THAT is the reason I voted you best blogger, Rich.

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:23:43 +0000

Your daughter, at least, got you to stop talking!

I agree with you, Jim, it’s Christ’s enabling power that makes it possible. As Paul says in Philippians when he challenges us to live in unity, to “be of one mind, to have the mind of Christ, he says that, ultimately it is God who works in us and through us to do his will.

But spiritual transformation and character change don’t just happen to us, as you well know. As Paul says elsewhere, in Romans 12, when he talks about being renewed, he describes the process as being like a living sacrifice.

The problem with sacrifices that are still alive is it’s hard to keep ‘em from crawling off the altar. I know I find it hard. It’s uncomfortable, mighty uncomortable, staking the old man to the altar to die. That old man is me, and I don’t like it there, under God’s knife. I keep wanting to crawl off the spot. But like Paul who beats his body daily into submission, you and I both have to make constant decisions about this thing called character.

We’re not called disciples for nothing. It does, indeed, take discipline.

Thanks for contributing!

Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

By: jim

jim — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:22:08 +0000

While we can always attempt to do better, I’m of the opinion that I spent a lot of years pre-Christ unsuccessfully trying to change myself, surely the only difference in me post-Christ IS Christ and if I don’t bring Him into the solution, little is accomplished. The wife and I battled with each other (and I mean “battled”) for seven years before coming to an altar in ‘72. She is quick to anger and it’s over person. I, on the other hand, am quite easy-going, holding it all in and then suddenly explode over nothing. For nearly two years after we were saved, while much did change, religion was just another weapon in the arsenal. I came home from work one day, tired, tight, (nho excuse) and we got into an argument at the supper table over my mother. Boom! I was ready to burst, but what to do? Christians don’t go to war with their wife. Down to the basement I stomped, fuming like a volcano ready to erupt, and began to pick up anything I could get my hands on to throw whichever way it would go. Ranting (but not cursing) like a madman, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by the sound of my middle daughter’s (age 5?) voice. “Daddy!” she yelled; and I just stood there thinking: “What’s wrong with you? You could kill somebody like this!” Something washed over me; and, while I wouldn’t tell you the wife and I haven’t still had a disagreement or three in years since, that part of “the old man” died that day………..

By: Rudy Garrido

Rudy Garrido — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:00:23 +0000

Hey Rich,

Great Post! I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about the 2 books you quoted. Maybe I should finally go and read them. :)