Hey everyone.
I'm going to share with you a brief self-assessment. I think that I am a pretty normal. I think that other people see me as reliable, as someone they can count on. I hope that this is accurate. (If it is not please break it to me gently.)
Any way, assuming that my self-assessment is accurate, the question I want to think about today is, "How did I get that way?" In II Timothy 1:7 it says: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." This is a great verse and many lessons can be drawn from it, but I want to focus on the spirit of self-discipline. When I read this verse in the King James Version, the word "self-discipline" is translated as "a sound mind." A sound mind is an awesome thing and is somewhat different from self-discipline. So which is it? I looked it up the Greek word "sophronismou" in the Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of New Testament Words. Guess which one it means. Both. Warren Wiersbe described the word this way in his commentary Be Faithful, "it describes a person who is sensibly minded and balanced."
God has been giving me this spirit of "sophronismou" (sound mind and self-discipline) for a little over 24 years now. Why am I so normal? How have I become someone that can be counted on? Because God has been working on me and made me that way. I hope that God has been making you "sensibly minded and balanced" too.
Tom
Bro!! You make me feel pretty normal too! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see your blog, and be able to read it, and be s recipient of your insight and spiritual wisdom. It is great to be part of GOD's family and share with brother like you the gift of being normal in GOD's sight, as members of his household. GOD loves you, BIG BROTHER! and so do I!...Littleboyhowdy!!