Discipline

Discipline is a skill, a practiced art. It takes time, energy, and consistency to master it – much like learning to sing or play a musical instrument. Desire, on the other hand? It’s that little voice inside that first heard Whitney Houston or Stevie Ray Vaughan and told you, “I can do that!” You (and I) are one pride-singeing attempt away from seeing that desire is truly the beginning.

If desire had a mouth, it would say,

“Give me what I want.
I don’t want your labor pains, I want the baby.
Give me what I want.”

If discipline had a mouth, it would say,

“I am the practiced art of persevering with hope.”

 

Desire: The Church of the Resurrection, 2 Tim 2

Jumping right in, a lot of Christian doctrines, both new and not-so-new, are contaminated with the immature, hedonistic principles of desire. You might know them by their mantras: On earth as it is in Heaven, Name it claim it, Kingdom Now, Word of Faith. If you don’t recognize the mantras, you’ll know them by their fruits. They teach that you can have whatever you want right now, so long as you have good faith. They offer you your best life now, Heaven on earth (before the appointed time in the Word of God). They offer a non-Christ-like version of Christianity, one which disputes the call to live life patterned after the Suffering Servant, one which abhors the concept of a fellowship of suffering in Christ, one which omits the lifestyles of our fathers in the faith, both old testament and new, both by the verses they wrote or had written about them and especially in context to each others’ writings. Would you… could you possibly agree to the following, which I have taken and perverted from Matthew 5 in order to fit many popular doctrines? I call them The New Beatitudes:

• There is no more need for the poor in spirit. The kingdom of Heaven is now.
• There is no more need to mourn. Come and get your comfort.
• The time for meekness is over. The age of the Kings & Priests has come.
• There is no need for hunger and thirst. Have the courage to accept righteousness.
• Mercy has already been given. The time has come to conquer.
• We shall all see God.
• Peacemakers ARE gods. (little g)
• If you feel you are being persecuted for righteousness’ sake, you need to change your perspective.
• We’re skipping the last verse altogether because it would be too contradictory to our beliefs. Do not be alarmed that we are intentionally omitting Scripture in context. You probably wouldn’t have noticed it was missing if I hadn’t mentioned it. Anyway, this is common practice.

These anti-scriptural ideas, which are often referred to as “faith perspectives”, are taken from very real, very prevalent doctrines. I’ve simply removed the edgy church language. What do we see? We see desire-based belief mistakenly referred to as faith, which offers us a double-edged blade: 1) You can obtain what you want by “faith” in this life. 2) Therefore, the burden of responsibility for that which you lack in your life is yours alone. Did you notice how the perverted verses lacked all forms of unpleasantness? That’s called desire. These ideas are quite unlike the original verses, the ones our Wonderful Counselor gave us in Matthew 5, which are filled with selflessness. As anyone who has ever loved another person understands, selflessness hurts. According to popular “Christian” belief, communion with Holy Spirit has been relegated to an injection of a drug. It is as if those who may not be ecstatic and in a state of joyful bliss are doing Christianity wrong. It is as if the poor in spirit should be rebuked. It is as if those who suffer, are persecuted, or are being chastised have a diminished understanding of God’s goodness.It is as if Paul did not say or did not mean it when he said, “Remember my chains.” It is as if the wisdom of God – to crucify His son – was not wisdom but simply unfortunate. It is as if Jesus did not actually suffer; He only felt love and pity. Those who regurgitate these ideas would have you believe that Jesus never felt difficulty or stress in life nor stress and terror in the face death. But let’s look at this from another view – a little more practical and a little less antagonistic.

Do you deny or conveniently forget the horrors in the first half of David’s life in favor of the abundance and authority in second half of his life? Will you despise the first part of Job’s life and hope to stand solely on the second part: blessing and prosperity? Would you, in the name of hope and faith, turn your face from the testimony of Jesus’ first coming – as a suffering servant – for the overwhelming riches of His next coming as a conquering bridegroom king? But some say those things do not apply to us. They would have you and I believe that only the things in scripture that happened after Jesus came actually concern us. These people conveniently deny the life and times of the apostles who knew Jesus personally and lived after His resurrection. The majority of those apostles were imprisoned and/or murdered. That’s not exactly the type of blessing and prosperity we’re used to preachers preaching about. No. Blessed are those who are reviled and persecuted. Blessed are those who mourn.  Blessed are the meek, the peacemakers. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The world is not worthy of these pillars of true faith.

Why does this matter?

Desire. Are you willing to take part in the fellowship of suffering? If your answer is no, then this is the wrong place for you. You will not find what you are looking for.

“From desire to discipline. From suffering to glory.”

We are heirs of God, heirs with Jesus, if we suffer with Him. These sufferings cannot be compared to the glory that will be shown in us on The Day when Jesus comes back. This is the very hope in which we accepted and trusted Jesus as our Savior. But it has not yet come. People don’t hope for something they already have. We hope for something we do not yet have. Therefore, we persevere. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, the sword – though these things may touch our everyday lives, in the midst of these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus.

^{Paraphrased from Romans 8 – The lifestyle of the carnal-minded and the life of the Spirit-minded}

This is a representation of great desire.

Great desire is usually the beginning. Passion, enthusiasm, desire – all noble qualities. But there’s something missing. This image shows a picture of pure desire, desire alone. It’s childish, no? It clearly shows the missing years – the decade of training – the same steps, same movements, same form despite the monotony of muscle memory, despite the broken toes, bloody knuckles, pulls, sprains, tears, bruises. It clearly exposes the severe lack of consistent devotion despite not being seen but in fact being hidden, the thousands of hours of unrecognized effort. There’s desire but no discipline. Desire is the beginning. Desire alone simply looks childish. As believers, we must practice discipline. Wanting to do good is not the same thing as doing it. Every day is another opportunity to make good choices, regardless of how difficult they may be to carry out. We only have so much time here, so we need to make this time count. As with all forms of practice, this too means getting it wrong until we get it right. Then rinse and repeat. For the rest of our lives. Sounds daunting? It is. It’s just not possible unless you’re in love.

This represents great desire and great discipline.

This is the only question that matters: do you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? For whom or what does your desire kindle? Where is your heart? Do not be deceived into seeking for things this life can give you, things this world can offer, not even or especially in the name of faith. Faith is not a means to an end. Faith is not a means to millions of dollars or followers. Faith is the belief that God and God alone is good and wise. Faith is given that we may persevere in hope. I pray my heart and yours rest on the singular eager hope of eternal friendship with Jesus.

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Filed under: Humility, Surrender, Will Power Tagged: addiction, christian living, christianity, fear, freedom, how to pray, humility, Jesus, love, peace, personal growth, pride, self help, The LCL Blog