Do you find that you lack willpower to make the godly choices you want to make? Do you find yourself repeating the same fault over and over? If you want more willpower perhaps it needs some exercise.
When God gave us a new birth this included a new will because it was created in God’s image. Ephesians 4:24 says, “Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (ESV). So, just as our new mind and new affections should grow spiritually stronger so too should our new will. We should have more willpower to do good. Every part of us should grow more Christlike. If we sharpen our resolve to overcome the Enemy and to control our destructive desires, then we will soon find victory over temptations to our flesh.
In this battle it is helpful to avoid wasteful activities and instead make good use of our time by pursuing activities that edify ourselves or others. Also, spiritual disciplines will produce more willpower. But we must remember to depend on the Spirit as we exercise our new will (Col. 1:28-29; Rom. 8:13). God fulfills His part and we fulfill ours.
In order to exercise our will, our activities should be performed well even when we don’t like them. We do not serve well if we perform our favorite activities with excellence but perform our other activities with mediocrity.
We should not neglect spiritual disciplines when everything is going well. Our commitments should remain in force regardless of our mood or circumstances. This exercises our new will so we have more willpower. In all things we should remember that our life is short and could end any time. Then we will give an account of our lives, and God will reward us according to the good or bad we have done (II Cor 5:10).
Remember that God is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory (II Cor. 3:18) and this should motivate us grow up into Christlikeness (Eph. 4:13-15). Do we want to be small and immature when we meet Jesus? Or, do we want to abide in him every day by engaging our new will?
Do you have more willpower to follow Jesus than you did a year ago? What do you do to strengthen your willpower?
(This post is partly based on chapter 19 of the classic The Imitation of Christ.)
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