Discipline

I am in the middle of trying to figure out discipline, as in personal-discipline or self-control. I do not only mean in spiritual disciplines, but in every facet of life.

I am not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime in the last 2 & 1/2+ years I threw discipline out the window. Not sure when or where, but I know now it is gone. Undiscipline (I am using this word even though spell check says its wrong) is not a quality to be sought after. Now some of my friends would tell you that I am hard on myself. I am. But this has nothing to do with that. We are called to lead orderly, productive, & disciplined lives. For sometime now, I have found that mine is not. So, this matters & it is not simply me being hard on myself. I am under the full conviction of the Lord that I must master discipline, or rather be mastered by undiscipline.

The questions that have been raised in my heart & mind thus far concerning this matter are as follows:

• In what areas of life is discipline lacking? Why is it lacking?
• Does lack of discipline tend toward sin? What sin(s)?
• What is the role of appetites? Am I mastering these appetites, or rather are they mastering me?

These questions are not comfortable to consider, & perhaps the answers even less so. But, I am under the strong conviction that the Lord in Scripture has a lot to say about personal discipline and self-control. Let's take a look.

I Peter 1:13

"Therefore preparing your minds for action & being sober-minded, set you hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ"

I Corinthians 9:27

"But I discipline my body & keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified"

Hebrews 12:1 & 2

"...let us lay aside every weight, & sin which clings so closely & let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith"

I Thessalonians 5:6

"So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake & be sober"

I Peter 5:8

"Be sober-minded, be watchful [because] your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"

2 Timothy 2:3-6

"Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops"

Matthew 16:24

"Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself & take up his cross & follow me"

So I think it is clear, that God has in mind that we are to be well disciplined people, which is not to say that we cannot have fun, but that our priorities are straight and clear, that we are single-minded in pursuit of Christ & His glory through our lives.

I do not have answers to all of the questions above, as of yet. This will be a process, no doubt.

How does discipline benefit you life? How does undiscipline harm you?