Discipline

Lately I have been thinking a fair amount about discipline, both the general idea of it and also the life-style of living it out. What exactly is discipline? Webster’s 1928 Dictionary defines it as: “subjection to laws, rules, order, precepts or regulations.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as: “training that corrects, molds, or perfects that mental faculties or moral character; a control gained by enforcing obedience or order.” Related words to discipline are self-control, regulation, control, restraint, and obedience. Someone who is disciplined could, therefore, be described as one who controls, regulates, and restrains both his mental faculties and moral character by subjecting them to certain rules of order and enforcing upon themselves a standard of obedience to someone or something.

The word “enforcement” implies that this takes effort and dedication. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul says:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. ”

Most everybody who has read these verses knows how hard athletes have to work in order to train themselves to be ready for their races. They must train for weeks and weeks; they must give up certain pleasures and enjoyments in order to discipline their bodies. There are times when, although their mind might be , their bodies are rebellious or exhausted. It is during these times that they must purposefully choose to continue and train; it is then that their training becomes most important and they must continue to push through.

As Christians, it is so important that we discipline ourselves for the sake of the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul tells his readers that he does not train aimlessly but has a purpose for it. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul exhorts Timothy to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Now Paul is not talking about approval in the sense of doing self-righteous acts so that God will think we look good. Instead, he is encouraging us to diligently obey, submit, and discipline ourselves to following the Lord so that we will have no reason to stand before God ashamed of how we lived our lives on earth; if we discipline ourselves and submit our whole lives to the guidance of Christ, we will be able to stand before God and hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23)

I am sure there are more, but there seems to be at least 4 main areas that we must be disciplined in:

1) We must be disciplined in our thoughts . Philippians 4:8 seems to be one of the main passages which talks about right thinking; we are commanded to thing on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. This truly does take work and effort for the Devil is always lurking and poisoning our minds with the lies of the world. Colossian 3:2 commands us to set our minds on the things that are above; once regenerated, we should not dwell on lies that the world offers, but we should look to Truth—we should look to Christ.

2) We must be disciplined in our actions . Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” Everything that we do must be done with a mindset of pleasing God; if we become obsessed with gaining man’s approval we will find this empty and disappointing for it is God’s approval alone that truly matters and satisfies because we were made to glorify Him. Paul commands us to “flee youthful passions” in 2 Timothy 2:22; we must refrain from acting upon our fleshly desires and instead “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

3) We must be disciplined in our attitudes . Having a good attitude does not come naturally; most of the time there comes for the need to make a conscious choice to have a good attitude. One of the ways to facilitate this mindset is by giving thanks to the Lord. Time and time again, the psalms call for readers to “give thanks.” In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 commands us to give thanks: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” There will be many times when we do not want to give thanks or be joyful, but Paul tells us that it is God’s will for us to do it anyways; we must exercise discipline and choose to be thankful.

4) We must be disciplined in our emotions. This can for sure be a hard one, especially for girls. J. I. Packer says in Knowing God: “Think against your feelings; argue yourself out of the gloom they have spread; unmask the unbelief they have nourished; take yourself in hand, talk to yourself, make yourself look up from your problems to the God of the gospel: let evangelical thinking correct emotional thinking.” There will be times when we feel discouraged or we do not feel joyful. These are times when we must fight for our joy in the Lord; we must fight to remember the Gospel and fight to preach it to ourselves daily. Just because we might feel like something is true does not necessarily mean that it is true. We cannot be trapped by our feelings and emotions, but must remind ourselves of that which is True. This takes practice. This takes work and effort. This takes discipline.