All is Well

Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

Merry Christmas Sunday Sundries

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Merry Christmas!  I pray that your day has been filled with joy–abundant rejoicing in the birth of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Enjoy today’s Sunday Sundries!

1.The Resurgence blogsite is giving out free “Silent Night” wallpaper for your devices.  Beautiful and peaceful.

2.  Amazing touchdown flip—nailed it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7KPZrv7JWE&feature=player_embedded

3. 2011 Technology Winners and Losers—fascinating article Here.

4.I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes, and some of my favorite stories are his adventures with Snowmen; Take a Look!

5.  I’ve been monitoring the situation in North Korea over the last couple of weeks.  I found this picture to be fascinating.  You can see the lights of South Korea, the darkness of North Korea.

On Self-Indulgence

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Thanks Vitamin Z

self-indulgence

Throwing off restraint and discipline and yielding to the desire to gratify selfish appetites and cravings. Scripture warns against such a characteristic and urges, instead, self-control, generosity and consideration for others.  (Taken from the Zondervan Dictionary of Bible Themes).

Why is it that self-indulgence seems to be our default mode, while self-control so often is completely spurned?  I find the definition above to be troubling, because it is accurate.

In 1 Timothy 5:5-6, we get a stark picture of the consequences of self-indulgence.  In this passage, the author (presumably Paul) is addressing the issue of widowhood.  The language is strong:

5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, 6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

She, this widow, if she becomes self-indulgent as opposed to setting her hope on God and praying night and day (earnestly, I might add), then she is dead.  She is alive, but she is dead.  Self-indulgence leads to a kind of death in our souls.

On the other hand, Self-control (discipline) is a fruit of the spirit:  Take a look at what Galatians 5:22-23 have to say:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 You see, self-control is an aspect of the living fruit of the spirit.  Do you see that?  It leads to life, while self-indulgence leads to death.
O how I struggle with the sin of self-indulgence.  And how much does America itself struggle with the sin of self-indulgence?  I must, we must strive for the fruit that has the characteristic of self-control, and abhor that which leads to death while alive: the sin of self-indulgence.

 

 

 

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