Pursuing our Destiny, Part 6—The Disciplines of Abstinence

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11, ESV).

Recognized as the “seven deadly sins,” the church has identified throughout its history some sins as being particularly dangerous to our spiritual lives.  They are pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lasciviousness (lust).  Gregory the Great (A.D. 540-604) described these as a “classification of the normal perils of the soul in the ordinary conditions of life.”

All of us who want to be like Jesus (the destiny for which we’ve been chosen, Romans 8:29) know the “normal perils” that trouble our souls—that “wage war against our soul(s)” as Peter warns us.    In that warning, Peter helps us understand that part of the way we guard our souls against the “normal perils” is to practice abstinence.  He didn’t just mean abstinence from sex or drugs or alcohol, the context in which we normally understand the word.  It meant far more than that for Peter.

The disciplines of abstinence, as practiced by Jesus, were broader and more comprehensive, and they prepared him for life and the “normal perils” of life.  As we choose to become living icons of Jesus, it’s good for us to remember that Jesus experienced temptation just like we do.  He dealt with it every day just like we do.  He had to make choices every day just like we do.  And, just like Jesus, we can avoid the “normal perils” if we invest the same energy and effort that Jesus did in preparation for those perils.

I invite you to take a journey through the gospels.  Allow your focus to rest on Jesus—what He did, what He didn’t do.  Pay attention to the times he stepped away from the crowd.  Notice his prayer times and his simple life.  In all your noticing, be aware of the ways God’s Spirit may call you to the same practices.  Perhaps we become more like Jesus by doing the things Jesus did!

Allow me to remind you of the disciplines of abstinence: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice.  Each one is important.  Each one is part of the life of Jesus.  Each one helped him confront the “normal perils,” the “passions of the flesh that war against our soul.”

In his book “The Spirit of the Disciplines,” Dallas Willard quotes Bishop Wilson from the Isle of Man.  Wilson wrote, “Those who deny themselves will be sure to find their strength increased, their affections raised, and their inward peace continually augmented.”   Willard goes on to say, “An adequate course of spiritual discipline will single out those tendencies that may harm our walk with God.”  Anything that harms our walk with God keeps us from fulfilling our destiny to become living icons of Jesus.  Where do each of us need a “course of discipline” in our lives to protect us from those things that “may harm our walk with God?”  We may already know where discipline is needed.  If not, we can ask God’s Spirit to show us.  Let that be our work for this week—to find out which disciplines of abstention we need to incorporate into our lives. – Pastor John Strain recently retired from full-time ministry at First Baptist Toms River. He is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Joel 1-3; Philippians 4

Quote of the day: Every problem is an opportunity to know God better.

Larry Crabb

Verse to Memorize: Therefore I love you commandments above gold, above fine gold. Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Psalm 119:127-128 ESV