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"What I want to do I do not do..."

            This weeks reading hit different. I can usually find some way to relate the reading to the Bible, but this time It's more than just some observation. As I read on through Aristotle's ramblings about virtue, trying my best not to zone out, one segment really stuck out. It says, referring to virtuous actions, "But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do" (Aristotle). I think this quote is true about what Christianity looks like for a lot of people. It's so easy to go to church every week and listen to the pastor  (throwing in an "amen" here and there to spice it up). It's easy to agree with what the pastor is saying and the points he is making. We leave feeling good about ourselves and our faith, but then, life just happens... Covid happens...unexpected news comes... hurricanes hit... 

        It's easy to agree with a pastor or sing worship songs, but do we live out what we claim we so adamantly agree with? When we are hit with difficult circumstances, do we use them as a way to live the life we are called to live? Romans 7:15-20 says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. " So often the easy way out is more appealing, but we are called to stand up and carry out the good. 

I am mostly preaching to myself here, but how do you feel about it?


Commented on Haylee Lynd's and Caroline Tucker's

Sources: 

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html 

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerOctober 26, 2020 at 9:58 PM

    Yes! I am constantly having to remind myself the reason behind why I do things. This thought will bring me to the realization of whether or not I should be doing the thing. This is especially true for school work. I am easily distracted and once I am distracted, I am distracted for the next few hours. I cannot focus. If I cannot focus on my school work, how will I focus on God? Thankfully, it is not through me but through God’s influence and conviction that I have the ability to focus on Him.

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  2. ClaboOctober 27, 2020 at 2:00 AM

    I completely agree with you. We have such a hard time not doing what can easily be determined as wrong in hindsight. Sometimes I think that its not so much as difficult to choose not to sin, but rather that it is extremely difficult to consistently do what is good and focus only on that. We are sinful creatures, and for the most part we mainly want to do what we want to do. It is just difficult to determine if what we want is what we shouldn't.

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