Will Worship

There is a condition for us Christians that I think needs to be brought to light. It is called “Will worship". Let me explain what I mean. A writer by the name of Heini Arnold once wrote, "As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own will power, we will only make the evil in us stronger than ever.". Another writer named Emmet Fox said, " As soon as you resist mentally any undesirable or unwanted circumstances, you thereby endow it with more power~power which it will use against you and you will have depleted your own resources to that exact extent."

You maybe a little confused at this point, let me expound what I'm getting at. Paul writes about this epidemic in Colossians 2:20-23. He is talking about handling sin on our own. He asks why we submit to regulations of the world, “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.". Verse 23 he says these things have an appearance of wisdom for self made religion...but they are of no value in stopping the indulgences of the flesh.
Friends, in short, we will never be able to beat sin of our own accord. Sure we can say things like “I’m not going to do this or that at this time or that," but do you here the crux of that sentence, “I’m not going to...".

What Paul is talking about in this passage is will worship, what my will power can do and he says your will power can't. Your will power will never be able to handle sin, fight it off in the way that is needed. Will power will never succeed in dealing with the deeply ingrained habits of sin. However sometimes we make some head way and maybe stop a habit that has plagued us for a while. Now I'm not saying that doesn't happen and it is great when it does but is it really us doing the work? The moment we feel we can succeed or attain victory solely on our own will power, we begin to worship our will. Isn't it ironic that Paul looked at our best effort in the fight against sin and called it idolatry?
I knew a man who struggled with alcohol for years. Finally he stopped and started to get his life back on track, got into a program and everything. Six months later he went in to a bar for just one drink. Eight hours later he left right back where he started six months earlier.

Richard Foster said, “Our ordinary method of dealing with ingrained sin is a frontal attack. We rely on our willpower and determination. Whatever the issue for us is ~ anger, bitterness, gluttony, pride, sexual lust, alcohol, fear, we determine never to do it again; we fight against it, set our will against it. But it is all in vain and we find ourselves morally bankrupt or worse yet so proud of our external righteousness that "whitened sepulchers," is a mild description of our condition."

So what do we do it all seems hopeless, well on our own it is. Sin is in our nature so to not sin is literally going against our nature. But Jesus defeated sin on the cross, with his death sin died. When we face a situation we know temptation is going to come and sin will follow or for times that we are caught off guard, pray. The bible says that God will never give us more than we can handle but that with his help. So pray, say God help me out of this, I rely solely on the work that Christ already did on my behalf. God will give you want you need, whether it's a way out or strength or whatever. Paul also said in Corinthians to flee sin, so if that seems good to you do it with God's help.

I encourage you DO NOT rely on your own strength or will. Don't worship your own power because clearly Paul says we have none. When we stop trying to do it ourselves, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is Gods work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness; it is a grace that is given.

Rely on God's power and worship the Savior.

May our LORD be with you