Necessity & Power of Self-Discipline

UFO is the acronym quilters give to an unfinished project. This year, I am entered in a UFO contest. I gave my list of unfinished objects to a chair person, and have determined to finish as many of them as I can. I know my goal and I know what I have to do (and not do) to get there. This requires determination and the sacrifice of other things. No sitting in front of the television this summer. No starting new things, only to leave them unfinished.

Goal setting is important. Paul used another metaphor to describe spiritual goal setting. He took the language of athletic sports familiar to the people of Corinth and told them what he was doing and why.

So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. (1 Corinthians 9:26)

Paul had clearly defined goals. He knew that perseverance was needed to achieve them. He used words (later in this passage) to describe how he prepared for his race or fight, and expressed how he must force himself to maintain the strenuous and consistent effort needed for success. The name of this game is self-discipline, but I don’t see much of that in the people around me.

My devotional writer says that a hundred years ago President Theodore Roosevelt predicted that “prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich theory of life would eventually destroy America.”

Was he right? Both our nation (Canada) and the one south of us have certainly gone in the direction Roosevelt describes. For instance, I sometimes read the business section of the newspaper and wonder how I can better manage my money, but I know that even the best efforts of one person cannot turn around an economy.

This is only one area that is falling apart. What about the spiritual state of the nation? It does not look good. When I am praying, I sometimes feel despair. My own spiritual life is a challenge, and even if it were not, could one person change the way a nation is going?

God reminds me that from all indications, every spiritual revival that I know of started with one person. History shows that each time of renewal, both here and abroad, began with someone on their knees, someone with a focused dedication to turn from sin and be consistent to discipline their own life. In each case, one person found that through the self-discipline given to them by the Holy Spirit, they had a renewed power in prayer. To their discipline, God added a heartfelt love for the people around them. Then that one person prayed fervently and consistently, God heard and answered, and thousands of lives were changed.

I’m sad because not only the unsaved people of the world around me have given in to “prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich theory of life.” Many Christians have fallen into a worldly lifestyle that is characterized by lack of self-discipline in many areas of life too. Paul wrote, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). We have become far too soft in the exercise of godliness.

A pastor once said concerning discipline, “Begin small, clean off your desk” yet I am finding that isn’t as helpful as the discipline of keeping short accounts with God. Confessing sin immediately rather than making excuses or rationalizing it goes much farther in helping me keep a godly focus. When I know the will of God and have His resources to reach His clearly defined goals, then the discipline to do it is also His gift to me. My UFOs are only an example. I’m not talking about making quilts, but that God-given desire to make a difference.