“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.”
~ Abraham Heschel
Do you have enough respect for yourself to say “No,” to actions and habits you know are not in your best interest to indulge?
You have a wonderful spiritual individuality, made in the image of God, that is honorable, upright, intelligent, composed, and worthy of the utmost respect.
Love your spiritual self. Show respect for your true self by saying “No,” to any mortal mind temptations that would diminish you into anything less than God created you to be.
Thank you very much Evan, for reminding us on this very important subject. It is so important because if we do not love ourself spiritually as God made us, we cannot love our neighbors enough.
Immediately after I read this SpiritView I thought at the ten commandments given Moses by God and the tenets given us by Mary Baker Eddy, specially the 6th tenet. These tenets have to be signed by those who want to become a member of The Motherchurch.
The By-Laws of The Motherchurch and all these laws in the Bible, coming from God, if followed diligently are leading us to love ourself as God loves us and made us and respect us rightly.
QUOTE:
“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.”
– Sean Covey
Yes it’s always good to be firm and say “NO” to anything that tries to taint our spiritual worth. To be spiritually minded is Life, peace and vice versa.
Very often it’s difficult to say “No” or leave friends who indulge in drugs, drinks, late night parties…due to fear of being labelled as “outdated and old fashioned”. A strong charactered, spiritually minded and self respected person doesn’t bother and leaves such a group for good.
The path that leads to God, good is straight and narrow. At times people try our patience and we are tempted to get angry annoyed, to react…but NO, to respond with love increases our self worth, speeds our spiritual growth.
Similarly judging, condemning, gossiping needs an emphatic NO because it taints our self worth and slows down our spiritual growth.
Seeking the kingdom of God and treading the right path needs patience, discipline, quite time in prayers and denial of worldly pleasures. God will open up treasures of bliss if we deny worldly pleasures which are fleeting and fictitious.
Thanks Evan for the lovely inspiration.
Powerful thought, Evan. Thanks!
Self discipline. A matter of commitment to Principal.
Very grateful for your enlightened sharing this morning.
Peace to all today in the continual effort to keep thought clear of temptation.
Thank you all very much for sharing.
Happy to comment, but inclined to write a story! So very much to be grateful for in the study of Christian Science. A most wonderful day is waiting. Going to separate the wheat from the chaff as it comes into thought. Just say NO to evil!
NO to these negative thoughts is good….I’m finding that one word LOVE clears my thought.
Quite true Evan. This includes even saying No to joining the PTA and other things that distract from where our thoughts really want to rest, namely with the vastness of God and His realm of possibilities
Aright sense of self helps to establish self confidence and worth to yourself .I think this is very important especially for young adults and teenagers who have so many choices to make these days.
Great for me to hear……as one who says YES since I seem to think more is better….thanks for the NO pointer, I like it a lot!
So true. Thank you all, but especially Evan and Nergish.
Growth in CS gives one the ability to say,”No!” When is is the self-respectful thing to progress.
Again, as always, many thanks, Evan.
What fresh, good thoughts! Thanks.