The Ultimate Challenge – Sunday, January 03, 1982
More than 500 years ago, Thomas A Kempis remarked, “Who has a fiercer struggle than he who strives to conquer himself? Yet this must be our chief concern—to conquer self.”1
New Year’s resolutions usually include a vow for adjustments in our patterns of living.
This is as it should be, for self-mastery—the ability to govern ourselves properly—brings true and lasting freedom.
In the Bible, praise is given, not to the strong man who “taketh a city” but to the stronger man who “ruleth his own spirit.” The stronger man is he who, by discipline, exercises a constant control over his thoughts, his speech and his acts. Without discipline, there is no order in our lives. The most self-reliant, self-governing man or woman is always under discipline, and the more perfect the discipline, the higher will be his or her moral condition.
It has been truly said that the majority of the vicious desires that degrade society would shrink into insignificance if there were more self-discipline, self-respect and self-control.
Such changes that might be affected through New Year’s resolutions.
And making those resolutions is important, even if the corrections are not permanent, because simply planning for change means self-examination and reflection. We must examine our past patterns of behavior so we can search out and strengthen the spots in our character. In this way self-examination itself becomes a positive contribution to self-improvement. Knowing our goals and objectives and making a commitment to reach them is the surest way to give life meaning and direction. Self-mastery is essential for self-renewal, and surely that is one of the objectives we set for ourselves—mental, emotional and physical self-renewal.
Yes, victory over oneself—that is the ultimate challenge facing each of us throughout every year. Conquest over self will help secure the personal peace that passeth all understanding. And it will bring lasting joy into our homes and into our hearts.
1 Thomas A Kempis, “On the Teaching of Truth,” The Imitation of Christ, Penguin Books Ltd., 1975, p. 31.
______________________________________________________________________________
January 03, 1982
Broadcast Number 2,733