Too often, I find my thoughts reflective of our culture. Today’s favorite messages sound something like this:

• “If you want it, by all means have it!”
• “You deserve it.”
• “Love yourself.”

These sound like nice messages, they really do. But the problem enters in when the reality of these messages and daily life collide.

Self thinks: “I don’t really want one cookie, I want three (or five)! And I don’t want to wait till tonight to eat them with my family, I’m going to have them for breakfast!”

Self thinks: “Ugh, the house is really messy right now, I should probably start with the bathrooms! But wait, I don’t really feel like it, in fact, what I feel like is eating popcorn and chocolate, and watching Dancing with the Stars.”

I’m realizing more and more that the Lord’s message and the life that the Apostle Paul lived were in direct contrast to the world. And I hate to say it, but I’ve fallen absolutely prey to these worldy thoughts and ideas, they have seeped into my mind and heart, and have begun to affect my life.

Paul states in 1 Cor 9:27 “…I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. The Lord says “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24)

As God’s people we must stop allowing our flesh to lead us. In “casting off” or “dying to” our sinful natures, we must view discipline as something to work towards, not to avoid. Self-indulgence never helped anyone in the long term. Just ask a man diagnosed HIV+ or an obese woman who can no longer tie her own shoes. We all have areas of weakness like this in our lives, but if we give ourselves over to it, we will not be the better for it.

It is imperative that we are renewing our minds daily with the word so as to strip away the world. Let’s start today.