Personal revival: Discipline
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 2 Timothy 2:3-7
Paul says we should think of these:
Soldier
Athlete
Farmer
The soldier, whilst serving, lives in a kind of bubble. He or she is purely involved in military life. I have never served myself. However, I did stay at an RAF station for a week with the Air Training Corp. You really do feel like you are in a bubble. Have you ever been to a Christian conference, say like Spring Harvest? I have, and again for that week, you just feel like you are in another world. (But I came down with a crash when not long after leaving the conference I got hooted and a gesture from another motorist because I was driving too slow, being unsure of where I was going – welcome back to the ‘real world’!)
The main point being is that I feel that it is relatively easy to be focussed in either of the above situations; at RAF camp you just get swept along by the routines and regulations. Similarly, at a Christian residential conference, your life is ordered for you; early morning prayer meetings, regular worship, teaching and fellowship and not many situations that would call on having to really exude the fruit of the spirit (like being gestured at by another driver, for example).
However, what happens when those RAF pilots or say army personnel must serve in say Afghanistan? They still must abide by rules of engagement and conduct etc. But now there is a completely different environment and pressures which will require a lot of discipline.
Likewise, the Christian leaving a residential conference must return to the ‘real world’. How will their prayer life be then? How will they react to the stress and strains of daily, real life living? What will life look like when they can’t go to church anymore because of self-isolation or imposed restrictions. Integrity has been defined as doing the right things, even when no one is looking (apart from the glaringly obvious fact that, God still sees us!)
Being a good soldier requires sacrifice (even being willing to sacrifice one’s life for others). We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Holiness means being separated; not conforming to the patterns of this world. Yes, we are in the world but we do not love it, we are different and the being different will require a lot of discipline on our part.
What happens when a soldier falls out of line? Well, they will have to face a superior officer and possibly disciplinary proceedings. It’s the same way with us.
I went for a brief walk the other day and someone had placed a painted stone by the path that said: “Jesus loves you”. That lifted my spirits greatly. However, as I was thinking about this, I realised what true loves really means and that wee seed began the process of me writing this.
Do you have children? What kind of a parent doesn’t discipline their child? Not many good ones! It seems almost contradictory really, but true love is proved by the fact that we are disciplined. We love our children so much that we are compelled to discipline them because we want only the best for them and to protect them but when we see or child going down a destructive and dangerous path, then of course we must intervene.
This is what the bible says about the Lord disciplining us:
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
The athlete must be disciplined to compete within the rules of their given sport. For example, a boxer must work hard to keep within their designated weight limit. You may remember how Andy Ruiz spectacularly took the world heavyweight boxing championship away from Anthony Joshua. Days after, he was seen being quite overweight. When the re-match took place, he still looked over-weight and subsequently lost badly, and Anthony Joshua regained the belt. Some have argued that the extra body weight just gave away the fact that he hadn’t been very disciplined in between these fights and suffered the consequences.
Another example is that swimmers will be disqualified if they take or step/walk on the bottom of the pool, although they can stop and stand still if necessary. Breaststroke. After the start and after each turn the swimmer may take one arm stroke completely back to the legs and one leg kick while wholly submerged. And there are of course many other rules to which they must comply.
The apostle Paul uses the analogy of being like a boxer when he says that he does not fight like a man beating the air and that he beats his body and makes it his slave so as not to be disqualified for the prize and presses on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27 & Philippians 3:14). Before we get carried away with thoughts of just disciplining our physical bodies, Paul brings us straight back to the more crucial way when he says that physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8)
Finally, let us consider the farmer. So much to get our thoughts going in the right direction here. Just think about the knowledge the farmer must have and not only that but to act on this as well. They must know when to plough, when to sow and when to reap. They need to know about the type of soil and the weather conditions; what is best suited for what crop. They must know about crop rotation to give the soil time to rest and get rejuvenated. Farming requires a lot of hard, hard work and long hours. They need to maintain their machinery, pay workers, seek markets for their produce and chase up payment if required. Jesus used so many parables about farming. Of course, also the bible talks so much about the principal of reaping what we sow. A lazy ill-disciplined farmer shouldn’t expect to reap much, and neither should we!
We can breathe a huge sigh of relief though, because, although, of course, we must do our part. The good news is that just like all aspects of our Christian life, God does not expect us to become self-disciplined by just self-effort.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
It is the Holy Spirit who is really going to enable us to live the disciplined life that is required for us to win the prize that Jesus is calling us to.
Yield to the Holy Spirit, call upon God to pour out His Spirit upon us. And of course, at some point, we will all feel God’s disciplining hand upon us; if so the best thing to do is to yield to all He wants to do and accomplish, and we will reap a reward of righteousness and peace. Amen.
