I am constantly amazed at the lack of discipline in our world today. I am even more amazed and disappointed at the lack of discipline among those who claim the name of Christ. In fairness, I am a very disciplined person. Some of that is because of how God made me and some of it is because I have taught myself to be that way.
I remember one time having a conversation with a friend who wanted to ask me about my nutrition lifestyle. At the time, I was a very strict paleo eater. So, my friend asked me for advice on being disciplined. He said, “How do you become so disciplined?” My response was, “By being disciplined.” Here’s the thing. Discipline is learned. We have to teach ourselves to be disciplined. It will probably not come naturally to almost everyone. Most humans, by nature, are rather lazy and will take the path of least resistance if offered to them. As a former CrossFit affiliate owner and coach, I know this well. Most clients, even though they know they need to change, are usually resistant to change, especially radical lifestyle changes. In my current job working in community corrections, I see this resistance to change daily. It’s the same in our spiritual lives. We really are, as Christians, mostly lazy. We want all the benefits of walking with Christ, but we don’t truly seem to want to put in the effort and work that goes into said walk with Christ. For example, there are things that Jesus did and obviously had His disciples do that were probably uncomfortable. Jesus fasted a good bit. He also spent a lot of time in prayer, often rising, the Scriptures tell us, well before sunrise or staying up late on a mountain alone, praying. If the second Person of the Trinity, the very Son of God, needed to make some sacrifices of the body in order to have better fellowship with the Father, don’t you think we should?! The Apostles apparently kept the same types of spiritual disciplines in their own lives. Most notably (at least the one that wrote about it the most) was the Apostle Paul. St. Paul talks about discipline, comparing athletic discipline to spiritual discipline in several places. In the letter to the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. 9:23-27), St. Paul says, “And I do all things for the gospel's sake: that I may be made partaker thereof. Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.” St. Paul frames for us, in verse 23, the reason for discipline, the motivation for it. He says he does all things for the sake of the gospel. Everything he does in his life leads to one end: the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ. St. Paul talks about mastering ourselves, refraining from things in order to receive the crown. The opposite is also true. We not only refrain from some things, but we also embrace some things. St. Paul says he runs. In other words, it’s not enough to stop doing some things. We must also, like the Apostle, then do some things. He runs, he fights, he chastises his body and brings it into subjection. We take our example from the great Apostle. We give up some things, not for the sake of our bodies only, but for the sake of our souls also. We give up some things but then we take on some things as well. The Church, both East and West, has helpfully given us these practices. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are among them. We would do well to take up these practices in our own lives. We would do well to look to the examples of the saints and the instruction of the Church. Both East and West have fasting practices that we may adopt as part of the ascetical life we are called to. Both East and West have prayer practices that we may adopt that help us to walk in a life of prayer. Both East and West have disciplines that we may embrace in order to help us more faithfully follow the Savior. The goal, after all, is not discipline simply for the sake of discipline. St. Paul again is helpful in 1 Timothy 4:8 when he tells us, “For bodily exercise is profitable to little: but godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” This is the goal. Godliness. To be made, in all things, like Christ, “the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) It is Christ who endured discipline and chastisement, even the discipline and chastisement of the cross, to not only secure our salvation but to teach us. He has showed us the way in setting aside His comfort to be for us our Savior, our Teacher and our Example. Christ is the goal. He is the end of our discipline and ascetical practices. If we will but hold on to Him and the joy set before us, our yoke will be easy and our burden light, just as His now is! For the joy set before us, let us run the race with endurance and discipline! Deo gratias!
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