Unshackled Moments ~ September 2 ~ Brushing Our Teeth With Our Feet

Will Power. Will power is one of those illusive things that some people seem to have more than their fair share of, while the rest of us, especially those who have struggled with any kind of addiction and or habitual sin seem to never have a decent supply, no matter how much we stock up. Will power is either a fickle friend or a falsely friendly foe, and I am not sure which is more accurate. Perhaps both are true. It is the insurance policy that never seems to cover what is actually needed but provides a false sense of security until the fire actually starts.

Will power is perhaps the most misused and misunderstood aspect of who we are, and I think it's because it has been delegated to do a job it was never meant to do. My theory is that we're trying to brush our teeth with our toothbrush held in out toes. I saw video of a woman born without arms doing that. It was amazing. She could do all sorts of things, even change her baby's diapers with her feet! She had adapted well, and the determination and grace to overcome hardship and disability is inspirational. Oh, and it was never supposed to be that way. That's why  we have hands and opposable thumbs, because they're designed to do things like hold a toothbrush and a paint brush and turn the page on our book and type and and and...that's not what our feet are designed for. But when the original design is broken, we do what we can.

Will power is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals, according to the American Psychological Association. It's a function of our mind, and it serves a purpose. I look forward to knowing exactly what that purpose is when I see clearly instead of through this dark glass, because I've been using my will power foot for all kinds of things I don't think it was ever meant for. Why are so many of us seemingly trying to use it wrong? Well, because we have all been born without the hands we're trying to replace. The curse caused birth defects, and we're all born screwed up and with a sinful nature, and that was never how it was suppose to be, not part of the original design.

The idea seems to be that will power is something that God gave us to help a non-sinful spiritual person made of flesh set aside something, make a sacrifice, in order to express love and devotion or reach a more important goal. But it's part of our personality and mind, meaning it's part of our physical makeup as much as, if not more than, our spiritual person. Stress, emotion, being tired and hungry and other physical things have been shown to hinder and weaken will power. It's tied to the physical, which means it's tied to the flesh, the carnal, the curse. When we try to use will power to defeat habitual sin and to walk with God, we're trying to use the flesh to defeat the flesh,  to use something that is against the nature of God to help us walk with God.

Seriously, will power doesn't want to walk with God. Not mine and not yours. Oh, it tricks us into thinking it does because it doesn't actively get in the way at times. When it feels good to do what's right or when it helps the short-term, when you don't really really need to fight to do what's right, will power seems like an ally. We think it should be, because we believe we want to and should want to do what's right and to walk with God and to love God. Our newly transformed and created spirit, the child of God within us does want that. But the other we, the old we, the carnal, flesh we....the we that will power is a part of doesn't walk to walk with God. It's a part of the self that must die. It's a part of the sacrifice, not a tool to be depended on to make the sacrifice.

So sometimes, out of the blue, it fails us when we try to rely on it to aid in our walk with God, in fighting addiction and habitual sin. It's like we aren't really fighting at all. It's like we don't care about or even want to walk with God. Then we wonder what happened and work to strengthen our will power to correct the problem. But the problem is that we're supposed to be surrendering and living by not my will but Yours be done, not strengthening anything that is part of my will. Will Power. Whose will? It's not about God's will, because He never needs to strengthen His good and perfect will. Oh it's my will power, or rather the lack of it, that is the problem. The answer is to find a power outside myself and surrender my will. So how do I get tricked into thinking I need to strengthen and exercise something that I am supposed to killing and surrendering?

There will come a time when the will is an insufficient defense against the first drink, or the whatever it is that you don't want to do but do want to do, against habitual sin. Paul put it like this...

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

- Romans 7:14-20

The key is not to work on our strength and agility to better be able to brush our teeth with our feet,but to remember that we have been given new hands of grace. We've been made new, and the spirit within us does want to do good, even though the flesh doesn't. The answer is not found in strengthening anything in and of us but in deeper and greater levels of surrender. Surprisingly enough the solution is not more self-control but less. We need to stop trying to do it ourselves. Drop the toothbrush from between your toes and let God have it. Self reliance is the enemy.

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