… and disciplined.
Summary: The best discipline comes from within. It also often serves the will of someone else. Discipline re requires motivation and the best motivation comes from love.
When I was very young, someone once told me that the best discipline is the kind that comes from the inside. The reason that saying stuck with me is that I have always struggled with a lack of discipline. At least a perceived lack of discipline. Maybe we can redefine the term today so that I like it more.
The discipline that I resisted as a younger man was bound up with somebody telling me what to do. There are very few situations where I am happy to be told what to do. One is dinnertime. I am glad to be told where to sit! 🙂 Another would be on a boat or a ship that is in trouble. Tell me what I need to do to stay safe and keep from drowning, and you will have my full attention and cooperation. Discipline is more than a single response to authority. The discipline that comes to mind is an ongoing form of self-control.
Usually, the word discipline is associated with some particular behavior. For example, a person who exercises every day is disciplined. Discipline can come from within because the person is motivated to exercise for some reason. Discipline can also be external, as in the case of a soldier in boot camp being forced to exercise.
Earlier in this passage, the NIV translates the Greek “sōphrōn” as meaning “self-controlled.” The intent of the Greek, as I understand it, is to describe the ability to curb one’s desires and impulses. To put it another way, this is the ability to rein in the desires of the flesh.
Today’s part of the passage has been translated from the Greek “egkratēs.” This word also indicates a kind of self-control, but it is slightly different. This word suggests a mastery over certain behaviors. To use the example of exercise again, even if the flesh objects, the person with discipline can make their body do it.
In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit. God wanted him to wait there for forty days and nights without eating. The flesh wanted to eat. As you might well imagine, after forty days and nights without food, Matthew reports, “he was hungry.” (Verse 2) That is the understatement of the century. For the entire forty days, Jesus had the discipline to do what his Father asked of him, even though his body wanted to eat.
Why would Jesus do this? Was he afraid of God? Was he trying to prove something? Jesus tells us when he says, “I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” (John 14:31) It is love that motivates Jesus. Love for his Father, and love for us. Because he is motivated, the discipline to do what his father asks comes easily to him. (Matthew 11:30)
To resist our inner impulses requires self-control. To resist our inner impulses and do what has been asked of us requires discipline. Discipline requires motivation, and the purest and best motivation is love. When Paul says that an overseer must be disciplined, he means more than someone who can keep from swearing when they stub their toe. He is looking for someone who will keep on task for God’s kingdom even if they are hungry, wet, cold, persecuted, and they have stubbed their toe.
Application: Think about what God wants you to be doing with your days. If you need more discipline to do his will, just ask him.
Food for Thought: What areas of Christian life require discipline?
Discipline is intertwined with living for Christ. It takes discipline to practice daily routines of Bible reading, prayer, worship, service, etc. 1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 27. Discipline is needed, but the motivation must be love for God and a growing relationship with Him. The Pharisees were very disciplined, but most appear to have been motivated by power and prestige (love of self). Discipline plus love for God can be a powerful combination.
Rich,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts today. I like your list of disciplines for living in Christ!
What areas of Christian life require discipline?
As a 17 year old I was in the Marine Corps training to effectively respond to every conceivable situation my unit and I would find ourselves in. We trained to become disciplined and automatically, without thought take effective action against any possible threat, in rain, mud, extreme cold or heat, day or night.
Today I am continuing my training. Not for physical, but for spiritual warfare, to become an effective disciplined disciple of Jesus Christ. I am learning when and how to get out of the way and allow Jesus Christ to effectively respond, through me, to every conceivable situation I might find myself in. How do I respond to the poor, unclean hungry He brings to me? How about the proud, arrogant, worldly prosperous person, or the worldly liberal progressive socialist who sees Jesus Christ and all His people as a problem?
Do I fully understand it is not my mission to correct these issues, the results of faulty human nature, but to train, prayerful study of Gods Word, apply His revealed truths to me as I live in humble obedience to Christ as He ministers to those around me. Do I quietly live my life for Christ, alert to the opportunities, the questions. “ Why are you different?”, “ What can we do for you, you’ve done so much for us?”, “ Can you spare a little money so I can buy something to eat?”, “How can I be like you?”, “What’s that say on your hat?”
I need to give myself to Jesus, let Him be seen in all I do!
Ron,
It sounds like there is a lot of overlap between living for Christ and living in the world. Not living as the world lives, but as Christ does.
Takes discipline, but you know that.
God Bless you Jeff!
Thank you, Ron!