No, I’m not talking about I will worship, but the worship of the will.
The Fundamental Failure of Change via our Will
We make the conceptual mistake so many times that we can “beat” our bad temper or “overcome” our lust if we mutter the magic words or do the magic things. Some of us are more versed in fancier lingo, things like “support groups” or “accountability partners.” In doing so we (myself included) fall into the trap or thinking ourselves able to save ourselves. Praise God for Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. I was again reminded of this:
Instead…
That when we focus on ourselves and “beating” any of our depravity, we succeed only in making our own evil worse. In fact, we’re committing the sin of Idolatry. We worship our will and say that it, instead of God is able to save us, to make us a more pure creature. Anything, including The Spiritual Disciplines, can only place us in a way such that God is able to work in us and change us from the inside out.
Closing Thoughts
The will has the same deficiency has the law — it can only deal only with externals. It is incapable of bringing about the necessary transformation of the inner spirit*
— Foster, Celebration of Discipline, Chapter 1
Soli Deo Gloria. Praise be only to our God by only by his Grace, and only by Faith in Him are we saved and continued to be saved from ourselves.
—Tim
Update (04.09.08 )
*We need to make the distinction between acting good, loving, etc and being good, loving, etc. The first leaves our inner spirit unchanged, we hold back what we truly are with our will while the second we allow God to change our very natures to make us truly good. In fact, the test is that we would find it hard to otherwise. It would be beyond us to be bad.
-Credit: Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, Chapter 1
A thousand times I’ve failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I’m caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fameYour will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fameIn my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out-From the Inside Out by Hillsong
8 Comments
April 1, 2008 at 10:16 pm
[...] Save Me From Myself Posted in Reading, Spontaneous by zoebios121 on April 1st, 2008 the iodolotry of “Will Worship.” [...]
April 1, 2008 at 10:40 pm
It’s amazing how much we talk about exerting our will as if our will is magically, unlike the mind, the emotions and the body, wholly in line with God’s will. The will never moves of its own accord: there is always something behind it to convince it of some action.
Choosing to have faith, choosing to do it God’s way, choosing not to conform to the pattern of this world, is that the humanly depraved will that can do it? No, but only by God’s grace can we even make such choices.
April 2, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I’ve done everything possible to live a sacred life. I try to honor others as best I can. Respect is vital for a holy life.
April 2, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Good post. We all seem prone to try to save ourselves, and we have all failed many times. But what is the role of our will in doing it God’s way? Are we to simply passively wait for God to transform us whenever He chooses to do so? The passive imperative in Rom. 12:2 would point to a role for a sanctified will, just as there is a role for sanctified emotions. But most of the time our self will is more of a hindrance than a help in the spiritual life. One of the key actions we must take is to choose to surrender our all to Christ. That requires an act of the will, but it is very different from self-reformation.
Dallas Willard has a good discussion of the role of our will in the transformation process in The Renovation of the Heart.
April 14, 2008 at 9:44 am
[...] origins. It’s not a black and white call and this requires discernment. And this discernment should come from God not of [...]
April 21, 2008 at 10:32 am
[...] it’s not to say that we should stop in our pursuit of holiness through God who works in us as we work out our salvation. But instead that we are still accepted as we are into [...]
May 31, 2008 at 5:14 am
[...] Can I supplement this with real respect. Of course. Respect first then supplements next. Not the other way around. Heart is of first importance, not actions but without both, they’re not real. James says faith without works is dead. And works without faith is will worship. [...]
September 9, 2008 at 2:35 pm
This passage I found in my Bible reading that addresses the fact that we cannot in ourselves change our sinful natures a.k.a. fundamentally become better