tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post8443789969840396383..comments2022-11-05T06:02:53.418-07:00Comments on Dawn Ponderings: Escaping the Womb of SelfLindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-67427917809083612312012-02-22T05:42:29.750-08:002012-02-22T05:42:29.750-08:00VISA VERSA.VISA VERSA.A Daughter of the Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17311710191707158497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-56135424425762795352012-02-21T22:00:18.562-08:002012-02-21T22:00:18.562-08:00...a preoccupation with perfection...you read betw......a preoccupation with perfection...you read between my lines so well, Becky ( :<br />This is the self I guess I need to die daily too, this one that thinks it needs to be CEO when in fact there's a Boss in charge already...I was at a friend's today and saw C.S.Lewis' God in the Dock essays, in particular one called: Two Ways with the Self. In finding a site to quote it from I found this blog which says it all quite well. http://strengthandsong.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/self-love-vs-self-love/<br /><br />The principle distinction is stated this way by C.S. Lewis:<br /><b>Now, the self can be regarded in two ways. On the one hand, it is God’s creature, an occasion of love and rejoicing; now, indeed, hateful in condition, but to be pitied and healed. On the other hand, it is that one self of all others which is called I and me, and which on that ground puts forward an irrational claim to preference. This claim is to be not only hated, but simply killed…(p. 194)</b><br /><br />Ugh. I love the refreshing turn you put on this whole topic. Thank you for your kind but insistent words: <br /><i> we MUST trust the one who made and REMADE us to use us as he sees fit.</i><br />You bless my soul!Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-1747575954316010802012-02-19T08:11:58.103-08:002012-02-19T08:11:58.103-08:00Linda, thank you for your late-at -night, early-mo...Linda, thank you for your late-at -night, early-morning reply and your deep and challenging ponderings. <br /><br />I read the link to CS Lewis' discussion on self. Thank you. <br /><br />I think what I rebelled against was the indication of a pre-occupation with perfection. I think the pre-occupation with perfection is just as misleading as the pre-occupation with enjoyment. Why? Because the search for perfection puts us back in the seat of the CEO of our own lives, instead of understanding the need to clear out of that office altogether. <br /><br />I'll try to explain what I mean.<br /><br />I do understand the importance of denial of sin-self, or if not denial, admission of our need for reconstruction in areas. <br /><br />That we are flawed MUST, indeed, be clear to every believer. But Mary, Mother of God (as a teenager) and those souls Jesus was talking to about denying self and following him -- they were not "believers." They had not received (yet) the indwelling Spirit, given to any soul chosen and called by God for the "instantaneous" remodel. We are new creations! Praise God. He doesn't plan to make us better, He already DID that by scrapping the whole place when we came to him. Our coming was the denial of self if it was real.<br /><br />Anyone who has come to God, confessing his sin-debt, and believing in God's solution for his bent toward self-serving, sinful imperfection, who has confessed that this transformation has occurred -- this soul has received the Rebuilding, in a sense: It is finished!<br /> <br />I believe the best thing we can do is admit (upon arising from slumber each day) that we are re-created and ready to be used...then, come what may -- we MUST trust the one who made and REMADE us to use us as he sees fit. <br /><br />The joy comes, like sunlight through a clean window, when one observes with delight what God can do with the stuff of life. Whether it be from a hospital bed, or a helicopter, or a hammock...God is faithful to lead. I've been thinking about the height and depth and breadth of a one-line quote that I think sums up this whole subject pretty well: <br /><br />"God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life that is wholly yielded to Him." Hudson Taylor<br /><br />Thanks for listening...I love you, Linda.A Daughter of the Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17311710191707158497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-16705116186624595272012-02-18T23:06:23.041-08:002012-02-18T23:06:23.041-08:00C.S. Lewis lends clarity to this topic in Mere Chr...C.S. Lewis lends clarity to this topic in Mere Christianity in a chapter titled: Counting the Cost. See a reprint of it here: <br />https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=214760491868426<br />Excellent reading!Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-71065806386007870692012-02-18T22:48:21.786-08:002012-02-18T22:48:21.786-08:00Thanks Becky for your honest reactions shared here...Thanks Becky for your honest reactions shared here. I think some of the trouble is semantics—i.e. what is meant by ‘self’—is it just my uniquely created personhood? What then is meant by ‘if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself’ (Mk.8:34,35)… As you may already have guessed I have struggled much over this very issue. And I always appreciate your peaceful (and joyful!) outlook on living as the ‘somebody’ you’ve been created to be. The sense in which Mary denied self is in her yielded response to God’s desire to use her body rather than her insistence on doing what she wanted with it. In yielding her right to her ‘self’ she was ‘losing her life for Christ and for the gospel’ (Mk.8:34,35) and thereby saving it. Denying self is not a denying of who we’re created to be but of ‘no longer living for ourselves but for him who died and was raised to life for us’ (IICor.5:15) I see that as what you are doing in offering who you are for God to use however He will. <br />Thanks again for your candid comments!Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-89157481711142833402012-02-18T21:04:22.356-08:002012-02-18T21:04:22.356-08:00Why am I finding myself rebelling (and admittedly ...Why am I finding myself rebelling (and admittedly a little angry) against what I understand to be the thrust of this post? Perhaps it is because I am finding such JOY in the understanding of my utter inability to be anything other than a "self,"created and redeemed by a forgiving God, who promises to lead me without failing. <br /><br />That we are "self" is undeniable. Self is our individuality - - designed by our creative God. Why can't we just accept this? Why do we think that denying self is noble! I think it is because we think too much of being "better." <br /><br />We are flawed by our disposition toward sin, true!...This is not new. Nothing in the Christian realm is new. Historic Christians were not different than we are. History has "glamorized" them. Why do we think we can be any "better" than the flawed creatures that we are? Why can't we just find joy and blessing in his GRACEFUL, forgiving, daily leading. <br /><br />"Behold your handmaiden," isn't a denial of self; it is a recognition of self. <br /><br />So I say, happily, joyfully-- behold your selfish little handmaiden...only you can figure out how best to use me. Use away!A Daughter of the Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17311710191707158497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-56267294546780107472012-02-17T19:36:28.568-08:002012-02-17T19:36:28.568-08:00Val...Thank God He works in us both to WILL and to...Val...Thank God He works in us both to WILL and to DO His good pleasure...And He's patient as we learn to yield our wills to the good works He has planned for us from the beginning (Eph.2:10)Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-72738687449349996032012-02-17T19:33:10.095-08:002012-02-17T19:33:10.095-08:00Thanks AT for your thoughts...It is very true that...Thanks AT for your thoughts...It is very true that we have lost a sense of how interconnected we are meant to be as the Body. We think of faith so independently--starting with a personal salvation and a personal Saviour--which are of course valid, but we forget we're all in this together! I suspect we don't know what we're missing. Persecution seems to change the paradigm.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-58741945858401858042012-02-17T10:26:52.175-08:002012-02-17T10:26:52.175-08:00I didn't find the article *scathing* at all......I didn't find the article *scathing* at all.....just true....but that may just be my personality....right up my alley in expression! <br /><br />Regarding the part you wrote... I struggle with this as well. I can argue with God when He presents and opportunity to me, and make a million excuses in seconds it seems! It is my fervent desiree to break out of this mould and do better....just not sure how. It starts with asking Him and being attentive and obedient when He responds to us!Valhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08180120440153922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-8820046204715385182012-02-17T10:24:26.793-08:002012-02-17T10:24:26.793-08:00You certainly have posed a great deal to think abo...You certainly have posed a great deal to think about. Self has always been the problem. When I taught children's Sunday School I used to write the word 'Flesh' on the chalk board. After the 'h' I would write the letters in reverse order so 'flesh' becomes 'self'. The lusts, not merely sexual, of the flesh become the inward focus of the self. If we look at the model of the early church, they were much more focused externally. Some of that was the Jewish culture/tradition/religion. They had a true sense of community. It was much less me and much more us. That continued in the nascent church. Group meetings, meals, worship were the norm. Sharing was so important that when self interfered it resulted in lies and death. Oops, I am going to end up with a blog instead of a comment. Great post Dawn. Keep pondering!The Atheist Turtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258086221161470112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-5571796857753455772012-02-17T10:07:27.955-08:002012-02-17T10:07:27.955-08:00You and I have much in common. And I think our &#...You and I have much in common. And I think our 'thinks' are not always His, our senses of obligation not always true, our 'guilts' not Spirit-induced... We cannot rid ourselves of self but we can say: "Behold your handmaid; be it unto me according to Your Word" IOW I'm yours, Lord, everything I am, everything I'm not. Bless you. LSLindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682029173527471837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4063575672808296948.post-42914508560379573252012-02-17T07:41:25.622-08:002012-02-17T07:41:25.622-08:00Struggling, at times willingly, at times less so, ...Struggling, at times willingly, at times less so, with similar themes myself recently. Wanting to serve, yet wanting time for MYSELF and feeling I "deserve" this day. Realizing that I don't even know many non-christians, and that I haven't really shared Christ with those I do know...because I don't know how to bring it up, don't want to be bothered sticking my neck out?? Too much self.MKFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09179375282008458558noreply@blogger.com