Me and the Other Me

There are at least two me's. There's the "me" who plans and has goals. This me is one that I like since I would like to consider myself to be someone who accomplishes what she sets out to do. This is the me who is always on time and is never lazy. This me is pretty cool and can be depended on in every situation. This me always sends someone an address or files as promised and is never late to work, church or any appointment. This me runs like the wind and doesn't give up until there is absolutely no more energy in her body. This me gives her all to every situation and is always more concerned about others than herself. This me blogs every day and never wastes time.

Of course that me is not always in control. There is the "other me". The other me often tries to convince me that it's much better to sleep in than to get up and run. It is always looking out for its own best interests. It prefers to be lazy and eat whenever and whatever it wants. This other me thinks that me is just too strict and too controlling. The other me wants to simply goof off and have fun and never clean up after itself. This other me is much more likely to spend the whole morning sleeping and then to just read novels all day.

There's no activity in which I see the way "me" and the "other me" are in coflict as I do when I run. I know that the "other me" hates running. It argues that all running does is to make me tired for no real gain. It reminds me that running can make me sore and might give me a headache. It tells me that there are other things that are much more fun that I could be doing with my time such as sleeping, reading, eating, or even more spiritual things such as reading the bible, praying, or serving others. Since I know how persuasive the other me can be, I always make sure to allow me to make firm goals before I begin a run.

So this is how a run goes. I will make plans (like I did yesterday) to say, get up at 7 and run 4 miles. The other me will immediately argue that it's a waste of time and sleep would be much more profitable. I'll consider this other me's arguement and decide that sleep may be useful and so will change my alarm clock from 7 to 8:30. Sometime in the early morning, I will wake up and the other me will remind me that I'm still tired and 8:30 is way too early to be up on a weekend. When I'm tired, this other me's arguments make perfect sense, so I will change my alarm clock from 8:30 to 9:30.

Somehow my interal alam clock will go off at 9 o'clock and so I then may be alert enough to decide that I will indeed run and will make my way out of bed and get ready to run. You would think the battle is over. I am finally outside and beginning to run. The weather is perfect, I'm rested so all is well, right?

Not in your wildest dreams! Especialy if it's been a couple weeks since you were in the running routine. Immediatly that other me will remind you that it's much easier to breath if you walk every now and then. Your legs will chime in with that other me and tell you that they are not used to so much work and may stage a strike. You tell them all that it's me who is in charge and they must fall into line. Me reminds them that the request that they run is not unreasonable - they've done it before and can obviously do it again. Me reminds them that they've had a nice break so should be happy about that and since they are so rested they ought to run better than ever. Me reminds them of all the benefits of running: feeling better, gaining a sense of accomplishment, sleeping well, being able to run hard when playing sports and more.

The arguments don't always work for that other me. The other me will often put up enough of a fuss that me will give in just a little and won't run its hardests. Often the other me will tell me that it is indeed running as hard as possible, and me allows itself to believe the lie while knowing it is a lie.


When the other me wins little battles, it get's stronger and harder to fight off the next time. Me knows this and will argue back until it either wins or gets tired. Sometimes me gives up and lets the other me be in control and simply decides that tomorrow is another day.


This struggle between me and the other me is nothing new. Paul spoke about a similar struggle in Romans 7 where he said in verse 20 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. I don't know if Paul's struggle against sin can actually be equal to my struggle to make my body run when it doesn't like to. Maybe the struggle that Paul speaks of is only in reguard to trying to keep from lying, stealing, lusting, cheating or other obvious sins. But, lazyness or slothfullness is also a sin, right? So maybe the correlation is there after all.

Pastor Phil preached this morning on Jesus and the Cross in 2008. He reminded us that it's only through Jesus that we have the power to accomplish things like new years resolutions. A focus on Jesus and the cross will give us courage for the coming year. It's only through his death that we have freedom from ourselves, from the world, statan, death and sin. We can in our will make a choice, but we can only cary it out through His Spirit. We can make the choice to live through Him.



I must admit that though I do belive that God gives us the power to live through his sprit, I feel that developing willpower to run when you don't want to seems to be something that a Christian doesn't do any better than a non-Christian. Does trusting in the power of Christ really make you better able to force yourself to run harder or faster? I don't know. I guess I've not thought of running in a spiritual sense at all. Is it always the sin nature that desires to do the easy thing? I guess that will be one more thing to ponder the next time I run.

Romans 8 Summary

I've been going through the book of Romans since February 12th. I don't read it every day, and when I do, I'm going slow so that I think about the verses more. I tend to read too fast and miss a lot if I read at my normal pace. Anyway, I'm reading a paragraph at a time and summarizing each segment in my own words and writing the summary in an excel sheet. Then when I have finished a chapter, I go back and after reading the chapter for a few days, I write summaries of the chapters. This morning I just finished summarizing Romans 8. I'm a bit hesitant to post this as it's nothing spectacular, just something I write to help me think about and rephrase some of what I read. But, since I don't have time to post anything else this morning before work, I'm posting it anyway just as it is.

Romans Chapter 8:

Now, no condemnation exists for Christians. Christ set us free from from the law of sin and death by dying for us so that we would be able to live by the spirit instead of by the sinful nature. How you live will determine how you think: living by the spirit brings life and peace, and living by the sinful nature brings death. A sinful mind is opposed to God and can in no way please him, but a person controlled by the Spirit has a body that is dead because of sin (and yet life will come through the Spirit) and a spirit that is alive due to righteousness.

So, we are obligated to live by the spirit and put to death the sin of the body. You who are led by God's spirit are a child of God so you can call him Daddy and are will receive an inheritance of God and with Christ. If we share in his sufferings we will also share in his glory.

To me, the suffering we face now can't even be compared with the glory that is coming. All creation is frustrated and eagerly waiting for freedom from decay and to see the sons of God revealed. Creation groans as we do too as we anticipate the completion of our adoption and having a redeemed body. The Spirit helps us in our weakness in not knowing what to pray for by interceding for us according to God's will with groans that can't be expressed in words.

We know that for those who love God and have been called by his purpose, God works in all things for their good. God chose those he knew before, to be made like Christ. He called them, made them righteous, and glorified them. So our conclusion must be that no one can be against us since God is for us. God can do nothing but give us everything since he gave us the best in sacrificing his own son. Who would dare to bring a charge against people God chose since God made us righteous and Jesus is speaking up for us? No amount of hardship or pain can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus, for in everything we are victors.

Pure Joy!

Pastor Tony has started preaching a series on the book of James on Sunday nights. I've always enjoyed the book of James, and I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. The following are taken from my notes from his sermon. I think summarizing my notes here on the blog might be a good way to reinforce to myself what was taught. Writing them here will also allow me to find the notes later!

The first few verses of James 1 do (as Pastor Tony said) have to do with attitude. We're supposed to consider affliction, trials and testing to be pure joy (or to count it all joy as other translations say).

Tony reminded us that as Christians we're in one of three states: about to go into a storm, in a storm, or coming out of a storm. There are lulls at times, but the storms will come.

Our response to those storms reveals where we are in our spiritual life. I don't really like what it reveals about me because I tend to complain (though mostly to myself) when I'm in a storm or confusing time.

It's a comfort to be reminded that God is allowing us to go through trials to accomplish something as verse four says that "perseverance must finish its work so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." So these trials are not for no reason. They could be a gift to us so that we won't lack something in our lives. We're reminded of Romans 8:28 and how in all things God can work for our good and his glory (if we're of the ones who love him and have been called according to his purpose).

We're to pray that God will let each trial have it's perfect work. That's a hard prayer, especially if you're in a trial right now. But, if you and I want to be made more like Christ, isn't that what we really want? We just don't realize that it takes trials to make us who we want to be.

God, please use these trials in my own life to make me more like you.

Subjected to Frustration

Do you ever have one of those days or times when you're just frustrated in general for no particular reason? This verse jumped out at me this morning:

Romans 8:20 "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope"

What I glean from that verse (and the ones following it) are as follows:

1) Frustration is actually something the God wants for us to feel at times

2) This frustration is felt by all creation so you're not alone in feeling that way and at times there may actually not be a concrete or definable reason for your frustration

3) As a Christian we do have hope since we can look forward to our new bodies

4) However as a Christian, we also still "grown inwardly" as we wait since we don't yet experience all that is to come in heaven.

Hopefully I haven't taken too much out of context. Those are simply my thoughts on these verse at this point in time.