"I want it now, I want it quick!"

According to a recent article on komonews.com, the site for a broadcasting company based in Seattle, Washington, “One in three households in this country cannot pay off their credit card balance each month. So they roll it over, getting deeper and deeper in debt” (http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Credit-card-debt-still-a-serious-problem-in-the-US-299292671.html). Another article from the Wall Street Journal tells the story of a couple who “was retired and had $46,000 in credit-card debt” (http://www.wsj.com/articles/retired-couple-learns-to-manage-credit-card-debt-1429538108). Wset.com reports that “Virginians owe an average of just over $7,000 on their credit cards” and “The national average is around $5,800” (http://www.wset.com/story/28824942/study-va-makes-list-of-states-with-highest-credit-card-debt). No wonder an article by the Northwestern MutualVoice Team claims that “These days, it’s nearly impossible to live debt free” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/northwesternmutual/2015/04/13/saving-for-the-future-1-percent-can-mean-a-lot/). Clearly there is something seriously wrong. What in the world has brought Americans to such a desperate financial state?

In Respectable Sins, Bridges diagnoses the problem. He devotes a chapter to discussing it and outlining various other areas that it affects as well. The problem is, very simply, a lack of self-control. Bridges states that “in the same way that a city without walls [is] vulnerable to an invading army, so a person without self-control is vulnerable to all kinds of temptations” (109). He defines self-control as “a governance or prudence of one's desires, cravings, impulses, emotions, and passions” (110). While eating and drinking, temper, and finances are major areas in which we are often tempted to indulge these feelings, self-control should be applied to every area of our lives. However, we must realize that we cannot exercise self-control in our own strength. We need God's help. Galatians 5:22-23 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (NASB). It is only by the power of God's Spirit that we can daily learn to be self-controlled. 

The Replacement Principle

Change. It is difficult. It takes work. But it is worth it. Andie Mitchell couldn't agree more. According to the following article, https://www.yahoo.com/health/weight-loss-win-andie-lost-135-pounds-and-gained-116654126457.html, losing 135 pounds was not an easy process. In fact, Mitchell stated that her “weight-loss journey...lasted 13 humbling months.” The weight did not simply disappear from her body. Rather, Mitchell had to discipline herself to make choices that would bring about the change she desired. Describing these choices, Mitchell states: “I started eating better: more fruits, more vegetables. I added salads to my life, swapped my usual snacks for a serving of nuts, and removed soda entirely. I committed to going to the gym five times a week and either doing group fitness classes, using the elliptical, or power walking. I joined Weight Watchers for a few months at one point...six months into my journey, I did the unthinkable: I started jogging...” In the end, Mitchell was rewarded by what she described as “the most exhilarating thing – thinness.”

In the Christian life, sometimes we find ourselves overcome by sin just as Mitchell was overcome by her obesity. One of the areas in which we tend to struggle the most is the area of sins of the tongue. In Respectable Sins, Bridges devotes a chapter to these and specifically discusses the sins of gossip and slander. In both the physical realm and the spiritual realm, change can only be accomplished through application of the replacement principle, or as Bridges calls it, the “put on/put off” principle found in Ephesians 4:22-24 (Bridges 160). These verses instruct us to “lay off the old self” and “put on the new self.” Just as Mitchell chose to put off bad habits of eating unhealthy foods and replace them with habits of eating healthy food and exercising, we must put off habits of gossiping, slandering, etc. and replace them with good habits of thinking and speaking that which is kind, true, and beneficial. As Ephesians 4:29 says “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (New American Standard Bible). The process will be difficult, and it may be humbling. In the end, however, it will be worth it and benefit both our relationship with God and our relationships with others.