In my house we often talk about our will. We have even personified our will, and we just call him Will. We discuss how often our flesh wants us to do things that we shouldn’t, but that Will can help us do the things we don’t want to do. We either have a weak will or a strong will. A child with a weak will has not been trained to rise above and do what should be done. He tends to do what he wants instead of doing what he knows he should. In our society we often confuse strong will for weak will. A child who throws a fit and wants everything his way is often called the strong willed child. This is not a true way of describing that behavior. A child who can rise to the challenge of denying self, and can instead of pacifying his fleshly lusts, can turn from his desires to do what is right is a strong willed child. We as parents should cultivate the will of the child by teaching them to do the things they know they ought to do on a daily basis.
Cultivating our own wills is just as important as cultivating strong will in our children. Following vice is much easier than following virtue. We really notice how good our willpower is when faced with the decision of eating a doughnut or a salad. We also see it come up in every decision we make in life. Do we wash those dishes, do that laundry, straighten that room, vacuum that floor; or do we zone out scrolling through Facebook or get caught up in a stream of YouTube videos?
Did you know that God cares about how we spend our time, what we put in our bodies, what we feed our minds? The more time we spend studying his word the more we know what he would have us to do. But do we have the willpower to sit and study his word? Do we have the willpower to spend time in prayer asking for strength to do what is right? Or are we relying on others to spoon feed us God’s word. By nature I am an extremely lazy person. I have to fight my flesh daily in order to do what I know I should do. Without God helping me I would never bother to do what needs to be done. He doesn’t read my Bible for me, or make me pray. So I have to do that in order to gather strength of character and will. Strong will cleans my home, cares for my children, plans the school lessons, takes the time to train my children in character, plans the meals, cooks, teaches children to cook, and does whatever else is required during my day. My will prevails when I neglect his words, and I end up wasting my day rather than doing what I should.
Charlotte Mason, an 18th century educator used this phrase, “I am, I ought, I can, I will.”I am a child of God. I ought to do what is right. I can do what I know must be done. We can’t leave off there. I will. I will follow God and do what I know I should do.
GA
and continuing…
Will I, should I, could I. Whether your realized it or not,those are three entirely different mindsets. Could I do something? That would depend on my health, circumstances, etc. Should I do something? That would depend on whether it is right or not to do that thing. Will I do it? That is where the trouble starts – from the beginning!!
Adam and Eve were told that they had dominion over everything in the Garden of Eden, except for one lone tree. Should they leave it alone? Yes they should. Could they leave it alone? Yes, they could have. Then, the will stepped in. Eve was tempted by Satan, who made it seem like she would know as much as God did, so her will took over her could and her should.
If you think about it, that is when we all get in trouble – when we are so full of ourselves that we want to do everything on our own without the help of God! Look out at this point it opens up a big Pandora’s Box and the results are catastrophic. Just look at the state of the world today. We have people doubting and questioning God. God – you should have made me a girl, or God, you should have made me a boy. People are so confused they do not know which bathroom to use or which sports team they should play on. And all because we think as a society we are smarter than the One who created us.
If you let your child have his or her own way in everything, they grow more inward. If the whole universe revolves around that child, they will become the god of their own little universe. If a whole society is doing the same thing, then eventually you will have an entire generation of self-willed, “I am the most important thing in the world”mentality type of personalities trying to run the country and then you will have a mess. Sound familiar?
It seems like as I get older that I would get less willful, but sometimes I think it is getting more the other way. What I would like for me to be doing or happening around me is not working out correctly, and I am getting sort of sick of my own attitudes. What’s worse is, I am so into myself that I think I am the only one that has ever felt this way. It’s all about me. What is causing this inner turmoil? Well, I think it must have a lot to do with me trying to live in a corrupt society and me trying to get along and live with this corrupt society.
I am not the first one to hit on this theory I do not believe.
See the following verses from Paul in Romans chapter 7:
4 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
8 “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (passions). For without the law sin was dead.”
14 “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
15 “For that which I do I allow not; for what I would do, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”
16 “If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.”
17 “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
19 “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
20 “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
None of your doubtings are first time things. It has been going on since the beginning. Along with salvation you have the Holy Spirit within you to help conquer the evil, and the will within.
AE
Voice of the Introverts 