Discipline without direction is drudgery
This is the opening sentence in Don Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life. This phrase has got to be one of my most favorite because is it so applicable. So many times we give up a discipline because we lack direction or we give up a direction because we lack discipline. Rarely do we see the two stride together.
Watching the Olympics puts me in awe of what the human body and mind can do when it works together. The mind knows what it wants and the body is conditioned to achieve no matter the cost. The men's swimming relay the other night was won with the final American in the home stretch behind the French who thought to himself that this may be his last Olympic so it's either now or never - the Americans won. These athletes from all countries did not start with boarding the plane, they started over 10 years ago preparing. When the time came it came regardless of injury, finances, training schedule, or personal life.
Life comes at the same pace and with the same apparent ignorance of our schedule or preparation. God knows this and has a way for us to be prepared if only we would set our direction on Him. That is where the necessity of the spiritual disciplines come from. That is why they are crucial to instill daily into our lives.
Many times our mind wants to know, worship, follow God. Many times we are held back because our body wants to stay up late, enjoy more sleep, be with friends, make money, and countless other little distractions. Conversely there are times that we make the physical sacrifice and go to church, Challenge, Bible study, or other activities but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind wants more sleep, be with friends, make money, and many other little distractions. The goal should be to merge the two where the mind and body have a similar fixed point that it desires to achieve.
A challenge from one of the New Testament authors, Paul, puts it this way, "I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it. Do you not know that all runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:23-27 NET Bible)
Watching the Olympics puts me in awe of what the human body and mind can do when it works together. The mind knows what it wants and the body is conditioned to achieve no matter the cost. The men's swimming relay the other night was won with the final American in the home stretch behind the French who thought to himself that this may be his last Olympic so it's either now or never - the Americans won. These athletes from all countries did not start with boarding the plane, they started over 10 years ago preparing. When the time came it came regardless of injury, finances, training schedule, or personal life.
Life comes at the same pace and with the same apparent ignorance of our schedule or preparation. God knows this and has a way for us to be prepared if only we would set our direction on Him. That is where the necessity of the spiritual disciplines come from. That is why they are crucial to instill daily into our lives.
Many times our mind wants to know, worship, follow God. Many times we are held back because our body wants to stay up late, enjoy more sleep, be with friends, make money, and countless other little distractions. Conversely there are times that we make the physical sacrifice and go to church, Challenge, Bible study, or other activities but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind wants more sleep, be with friends, make money, and many other little distractions. The goal should be to merge the two where the mind and body have a similar fixed point that it desires to achieve.
A challenge from one of the New Testament authors, Paul, puts it this way, "I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it. Do you not know that all runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:23-27 NET Bible)
posted by Ryan Lindsey at
9:21 AM
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