Though God's love is the *same for all believers new and old, a highly gifted and disciplined person who comes to Christ - e.g. Saul the Pharisee who became Paul - will accomplish more for the Kingdom than a **highly disordered and undisciplined person. Diligence,  discipline, organization, and structure matters. 

Christ's rejection of the Pharisees was not because of their discipline or standing, but because of their attitude towards their discipline and standing. They saw these as a means of salvation, i.e. salvation accomplished by them, not provided for them, and received as a gift.

Being disciplined or Diligent in itself is not bad. The question is why are we disciplined or diligent. Being disciplined and diligent always accomplishes more, not less. The issue is what drives our actions. Do we act to save ourselves or to honor God?

Feelings vs Faith

Waiting to feel motivated to work - e.g. I'll do it when it's convenient or when I feel like it - is undisciplined. Beating your body into subjection is disciplined.  It is acting in spite of feelings to gain a good result. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain. Doing what must be done to succeed is necessary and also a choice, not a feeling. It is an act of faith and often contrary to feelings. You believe in the value and reward of discipline before you experience it. If we wait to feel like acting before we take action we may never act at all. Because we believe God honors diligence and the outcome of diligence is better than being slothful, we take action. Faithful diligence always honors God over unfaithfulness. Obedience is rarely driven by feelings, but in spite of them, by faith. Because we believe the outcome of diligence is better than the outcome of slothfullness, we take action. A key to discipline is staying on task - keeping our eye on the prize - and not easily pulled off.

In saying this we must also understand that no amount of effort and diligence will guarantee a particular outcome. God must bless our efforts if we are to succeed, but they are our efforts nevertheless. God will not bless ***inactivity. The wind must drive a sailboat but the sails must be up for the wind to catch them i.e. our actions must be driven by the Love-Spirit of God, but believing and receiving his love is our choice. 

So what do we do when we have a task God has clearly called us to - such as loving our neighbors as ourselves - but don't feel like it? We pray and ask God to give us the grace and strength to do what he has set before us. We must believe God exists and faithfully rewards those who seek him. Then we move forward by faith in obedience just as Christ did after asking the father to remove the cup of suffering but then said, “...not my will but yours be done.”

A key to discipline is staying on task and not be easily pulled off. To do so, we must keep our eye on the ball. What is the ball? God himself in all his majestic glory and ecstasy and our partaking of Him.

Those things that are hardest to do but most necessary are the things that require us to pray the hardest for grace and faith to do them. It is at these times we experience our greatest weakness - dependence on God - but also discover our greatest strength in Him. 

Not feeling like doing something is not a reason to not act. The question is whether that something is honoring to God or not. If it is, we do it as an act of faith, not feelings.

For a further discussion on the importance of excellence click here. 

For a discussion on the value of competition click here

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*God's love for his children is not determined by our abilities or efforts. He loves all His children infinitely, without conditions. The more gifted person may accomplish more, but God's reward is based on our hearts, not our character qualities or skills. Because of this, the widow's mite was more honoring to God than the larger gifts. As a result, the widow received a greater reward. 

**One's gifts play a significant role as well. A gifted but undisciplined person is far less effective than a less gifted and diligent person.

***What about waiting on God? Where does it fit into this discussion? We wait on God when we don't know which direction God would have us go. We wait for his confirmation. When it is clear what action is most honoring to God there is nothing to wait for, we simply press forward in dependence on God to give us the grace and strength to achieve what we are called to.