As a particularly undisciplined person, I have often shrugged-off the connection between discipline and character… But lately, I’ve sort of been challenged to do things that only a person of great character could do…
And I don’t wanna…
I’m not whining, just generalizing in a way that I hope will challenge you to think about this…
Jesus told his followers that this world would throw hardship and trouble at them (John 16:33) but “take heart,” He said, “I have overcome the world.”
Could character be fueled by the discipline to do things that are difficult, painful or heart-killing?
This promise that Jesus overcame the world sometimes seems hollow in light of the very real pain that the world dishes out. But the same power that fueled Jesus is alive in those who follow Him…
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Paul, the Bible (Romans 8:35)
When Paul wrote these words, he was facing tremendous persecution, in the next verse he says that he faces the threat of death continuously… Then he goes on to answer his question:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (above, verse 37)
So, there is a supernatural work going on inside that gives us the potential to more-than-conquer (overcome even) some pretty extreme hardship… But I find that I am often way-laid by some simple slight… or thrown off-course by someone’s harsh words… or discouraged by the decisions of those in leadership…
Where’s the disconnect? What happened to all of the overcoming and more-than-conquering that I was supposed to experience? After I pray and repeat the promises to myself… After I conjure all of the spiritual-sounding jargon that has ever been thrown at me… If I’m still way-laid or off-course or discouraged, what am I missing?
Discipline?
Really?
I’m throwing this out for your consideration… I think I’m onto something life-changing. You see, lately I’ve been discouraged and it effects every aspect of my life: I don’t feel like writing, don’t feel like balancing the checkbook, don’t feel like doing anything around the house, don’t feel like taking my daughter to the library… You get the idea, right?
But when I push past the feelings and do these things (that’s discipline, right?), something cool happens: I find that I have just a bit more “feeling” for the next thing… and the next thing… and the cumulative effect:
I’m overcoming that discouragement.
I think this is why Paul compares the life of a Christ-follower to the life of a distance-runner:
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training… I beat my body and make it my slave…
- Paul, The Bible (1 Corinthians 9:25, 27)
There is a balance between the work that Jesus did (when He overcame the world) and the discipline I need in order to access that work (to overcome obstacles in my own life)… Does that seem right to you? Do you see a similar truth in your own life?
NEXT in this series: Habit-forming…
I see the EXACT thing in my own life. I strongly believe that discipline cultivates character AND that actions cultivate feelings. The Bible is a book of doing, not feeling. But I find that when I have the discipline to DO the right thing, even when it is not what I WANT to do, the action of what I’m doing changes the way I’m feeling.