How to Discipline Yourself for Godliness (I Tim 4:7,8)
The Lord gives wisdom, love and eternal life that transcends human understanding (Prov. 3:5,6)
The closer we are to the Shepherd the farther away is the wolf.
Many people are willing to discipline themselves to be more beautiful, to get a promotion or to avoid punishment from a superior. However, discipline done for selfish reasons usually leaves one empty. Paul wrote, "Discipline yourself to be Godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (I Timothy 4:7,8)
Illustration: Careless Living
We must face the fact that many today are notoriously careless in their living. This attitude finds its way into the church. We have liberty, we have money, we live in comparative luxury. As a result, discipline practically ;has disappeared. What would a violin solo sound like if the strings on the musician’s instrument were all hanging loose, not stretched tight, not “disciplined”?
A. S. Tozer in Men Who Met God
Let us discover some of the basic processes that will facilitate training for Godliness.
1. Focus your emotional, mental and spiritual energies on following Jesus Christ in all areas of life. (Heb. 12:1,2) In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Illustration: Godly Mothers
Many godly men of the past have been richly blessed by what they learned from their mothers. Consider the biblical characters Moses, Samuel, and Timothy. The maternal influence experienced by these spiritual leaders bore rich fruit in their lives. Think too of men like Augustine, John Newton, and the zealous Wesley brothers. Their names would probably never have lighted the pages of history if it hadn’t been for the godly women who raised them in homes where the law of love and a Christian witness were their daily guide and inspiration.
Susannah Wesley, for example, spent one hour each day praying for her 17 children. In addition, she took each child aside for a full hour every week to discuss spiritual matters. No wonder two of her sons, Charles and John, were used of God to bring blessing to all of England and much of America. Here are a few rules she followed in training her children:
(1) Subdue self-will in a child and thus work together with God to save his soul.
(2) Teach him to pray as soon as he can speak.
(3) Give him nothing he cries for and only what is good for him if he asks for it politely.
(4) To prevent lying, punish no fault which is freely confessed, but never allow a rebellious, sinful act to go unnoticed
(5) Commend and reward good behavior.
(6) Strictly observe all promises you have made to your child.”
Let us honor our godly mothers today, not only with words of praise, but with lives that reflect the impact of their holy influence! - H.G.B.
Our Daily Bread, May 8
2. Jesus provides us with the perfect reason for living. He satisfies our longing soul and fills our hungry mind with what is good. No other friend is as reliable as the Lord Jesus. When we are weak, He becomes our strength; when we are perplexed, He provides the answers for any problem; when we are overwhelmed, He shows us grace that is sufficient for any circumstance; when we are lacking commitment, He provides us with the inspiration to wholeheartedly serve the Lord with sincerity and truth; when we are discouraged, He gives us great hope, power and love.
3. Begin every day and task with prayer and study of the scripture to learn God’s will for every hour. Ask the Lord for the wisdom, knowledge and insight to discern more of the wisdom will of our heavenly Father. If you keep on asking, keep on seeking and keeping on knocking on doors, God will provide you with whatever you need! (Matthew 7:7)
4. Associate with other disciplined Godly people who can teach you by their example how to be more like Jesus. "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."
Illustration: Football
The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.
Tom Landry
5. Do not take criticisms, failures or problems personally. Many people allow obstacles to get to them emotionally.
Illustration: When John Henry Jowett was pastor at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, he began a series of children’s meetings. At the very first meeting, four boys with penny whistles upset the meeting by playing tunes while Jowett was speaking. An usher rounded up the boys and took them to the vestry where they faced Jowett. “Can’t you fellows play tin whistles any better than that?” Jowett asked. “If you can’t, I shall have to get Mrs. Jowett to give you some lessons.”
A few weeks later, the four boys gave a concert with Mrs. Jowett accompanying them on the piano.
The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 189
6. Do not let set backs deter you from accomplishing, being in and thinking God’s will. No one can prevent you from doing God’s will as you live by faith and obedience - only your own poor choices.
Illustration: When Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewsky played before Queen Victoria, he won her enthusiastic approval. “Mr. Paderewsky,” she exclaimed, “you are a genius.”
Paderewsky shook his head. “Perhaps, Your Majesty, but before that I was a drudge,” he replied, alluding to the number of hours he spent practicing every day.
Today in the Word, August 3, 1993
7. God uses diversity so do not think you have to follow someone else’s paths toward Godliness. The Lord gave everyone a unique set of experience, personality, and perspectives that He works through. Phil. 2:13 Let the Spirit work in, through and with your own thinking.
8. Do not try to discipline yourself with your own human wisdom and strength. Abide in Jesus and He will help you bear much fruit as you surrender control of your thoughts, emotions and behaviors to His leading.
9. Be teachable through all the experiences, relationships and endeavors of life. Disciplined people are always learning better ways that they can grow in all aspects in to Christ. (Eph. 4:15)
10. Believe in God’s methods for training you. Know that the Lord has a unique plan, process and set of results that He has designed just for you.
11. Be confident that all you have to do is follow the specific ways that the Lord leads you to be, say, and do all that He wants just for your life.
12. Do not become a pawn for someone else to manipulate you into carrying out their plan for you. Only the Lord has the wisdom, power and foresight to know what is best for your life.
13. Do not let yourself become overpowered by temptations, distractions or maintenance ministries. Many people fail to consistently train themselves for Godliness because they settle for second best agendas.
14. Remember that the biggest source of objections to Godliness will be in your own sinful human nature. Jesus said, "It is not what is on the outside of a person that defiles them, but what comes out of their heart
15. Know that it is OK to disagree with others as long as you are not disagreeable in disposition. Learn to think for yourself by analyzing each situation, evaluating decisions on the basis of Biblical criteria and then synthesizing creative solutions for every problem.
16. Program your thinking to love, serve, and maximize your contribution to the priorities of the Christian life: 1). To glorify God 2). To become more like Jesus 3). To help Christ’s church grow spiritually in qualitative and quantitative measures 4). To help fulfill Christ’s great commission of Matthew 28:19,20
Illustration: Percentage of American’s who own running shoes but don’t run: 87%
Source: What Counts: The Complete Harper’s Index, edited by Charis Conn
17. Be wise as serpents, but innocent as doves when you are around people who are like the Pharisees. Jesus told all of us, "Before you take the speck out of someone else’s eye, first remove the log from your own. What is the source of conflicts and quarrels among you. Is it not your own desires that wage war in your members. You lust and do not have so you fight and quarrel. Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and He will flee from you. (James 4:1-21)
Illustration: The Tragedy of Indiscipline
Coleridge is the supreme example of tragedy of indiscipline. Never did so great a mind produce so little. He left Cambridge University to join the army; he left the army because he could not rub down a horse; he returned to Oxford and left without a degree. He began a paper called “The Watchman” which lived for ten numbers and then died. It has been said of him, “he lost himself in visions of work to be done, that always remained to be done.
Coleridge had every poetic gift but one—the gift of sustained and concentrated effort.” In his head and in his mind he had all kinds of books, as he said, “completed save for transcription.” But the books were never composed outside of Coleridge’s mind, because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out. No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline.
Wm. Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 280
18. Be willing to apologize and admit that you are not perfect. We all are in the process of growing, learning and trying to serve the Lord despite all of our inadequacies. Ask others, "Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet."
19. Remember that your life and circumstances will never be as bad as you think or as good as you like. Sometimes God may allow things to become worse before they can get better! God still works all things together for good as long as we love God and are fitting into His plans. (Rom. 8:28,29)
Illustration: No man is fit to command another who cannot command himself. Wm. Penn
Who You Are When No One’s Looking, Bill Hybels, IVP, 1987, p. 23
20. Know that "You can do everything God asks you to do with the help of Christ who gives you the strength of power!" (Phil. 4:12,13) God has not give you the spirit of fear but of power, love and self-discipline. (2 Tim. 1:7)
21. Be content with what the Lord gives you and bloom where you are planted! "I have learned to be content in whatever my circumstance. Both in abasing and abounding. I can do everything God asks me to do with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power." (Phil. 4:12,13)
Conclusion: Percentage of adults who strongly agree that “parents today are too lenient and permissive with their children”: 63%
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, cited in USA Today, 11-27-95
