Discipline
By Brent Davis
Why Discipline?
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV)
We all want to flourish, to have joy and peace, but how do we achieve it? Chris Coursey wrote a book called The Joy Switch. Does it take discipline to turn on a switch? What about peace? Is there a peace switch? What about righteousness? Aren’t we declared righteous by faith (Romans 4: 3), saved by grace through faith, not works (Ephesians 2: 8-9)? Why then do we need discipline to harvest righteousness and peace?
Those are good questions. Scripture seems to indicate that these desirable qualities are given to us, grown organically (with little or no effort), or achieved through discipline and hard work. We have verses about receiving peace, peace as a fruit of the Spirit (growth-related), and peace as a result of discipline.
I think a key word here is alignment. Alignment begins with repentance, which in the Bible means changing direction (Lee, 2020). Jesus asked people to follow Him (Matthew 4: 19). That means changing my direction. Jesus, then, gave his disciples a simple standard to follow: Matthew 5:48
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Simple—not easy.
The Lord’s prayer helps us with part of that: we need to want the Father’s will on earth—that sets our focus, what we turn to in repentance—and then we need forgiveness, sustenance, and protection. These are all needs that are met by God’s work, not mine.
Next there is the work of development (known also as sanctification): “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4: 15b). This is a work of interaction. As we use the gifts God has given us and work to maintain bonds of peace, we develop more and more capacity. But this takes grace and discipline. Grace is capacity supplied by God, and discipline is our part to develop capacity by making good habits. Acts 2 gives a template for spiritual disciplines which develop capacity and lead to maturity:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2: 42-47)
Three means of growth and support are identified in these verses: teaching, sharing, and praying. Teaching builds up our understanding and gives us an objective standard to measure growth. Sharing, especially of food, provides us with relational and physical support, necessary for emotional growth and physical maintenance. Finally, prayer strengthens our relationship with God and provides a space for healing and growth of our souls.
Our daily practice, like that of the first disciples, should be to spend time in reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on Scripture; to spend time in fellowship with other believers, especially meals; and to spend time in prayer, especially listening prayer. To that end, let me recommend three books to help you: Grasping God’s Word by Duvall and Hays; From Tablet to Table: Where Community Is Found and Identity Is Formed by Sweet; and
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Foster. However, don’t spend all your time reading. Spend time at the table sharing, and pray about everything. Finally, abide in Christ (John 15). If you’re not sure what that means, that is a good place to start studying and praying—to be disciplined!
