All-out War

Yet another passage from Piper's book:

"...there is a mean streak to authentic self-control.... Self-control is not for the timid. When we want to grow in it, not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ, we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin... The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war.... There is something about war that sharpens the senses... You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode. Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger. Even after days of little or no sleep, war keeps us vigilant." (Ed Welch)

"It's a violence against all the impulses in our own selves that would make peace with our own sin and settle in with a peacetime mentality. Against all lust in ourselves and all enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame.

When Jesus said, "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32), he didn't mean without a battle. He meant that truth would win the war of liberation in the soul. Christianity is war. It is a declaration of all-out combat against our own sinful impulses. "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the fles, which wage war against your soul" (1 Pet. 2:11). To become a Christian is to wake up to the reality that our soul is at stake. Therefore, Christianity is mortal combat for true and lasting joy." (Piper)

Gird up them loins souljahs! >=)