Discipline = Giving Up the Good and Better for the Best

As I was looking through my prayer journal, I came across this entry:

February 21, 2011

I want to be a woman after your own heart and you know my struggles. My struggle to fit in, to feel accepted and loved. You know the war I wager day after day to remain steadfast in you. Many days I fail terribly, others I feel invincible. All I ask is for consistence. I want to consistently grow in my desire to know and serve you.

This is where I am at this point in my life; desiring to be more consistent in all areas of my life. In my walk with Christ, as a wife, as a leader in our church and so forth. Yet I have found that my number one enemy begins with the letter d and it is called distractions. I am distracted by social media, namely Facebook, in which the minutes quickly turn to hours and are forever lost in cyber world yielding no significant value. Then there is my all time favorite: CrossFit. Unlike Facebook there is much value in seeking to live a healthier life and stay physically fit. However discipline is not about pursuing that which is good. Discipline is about giving up the good and the better for the best. And what is the best from God's perspective? Only that which we will be able to take with us to eternity.

Read what Paul says about it in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Paul encourages us "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Both of these passages exhort me to fix my gaze on Jesus and the things of eternal value, forsaking all others. I am to relentlessly pursue my Maker and His kingdom while counting everything else as secondary. In the words of the wise King Solomon, "everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

So how can one leave that which is good and better for the best? Discipline is something that will be awarded and consequently holds much value before God. Yet we must be willing to pay the prize to achieve it. Like any athlete who competes and goes into strict training we must be willing to train ourselves and submit to God's will for our life whether it feels good or not. It is not something that happens overnight, just as an Olympic athlete will never win a gold medal without training hard and working diligently for it. Likewise following Christ requires much work on our behalf. We are to identify and remove all distractions so that we can better focus on our goal. It is only after one submits to Christ and finds joy in Him alone that Christ will grant us our heart's desires. He will be able to do so because our desires will be aligned with His will. Then and only then will Psalm 37:4 hold true: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Spiritual Disciplines: Confession

It's been over a month since I've made time to pour out my heart before God via my blog. Don't get me wrong, I pour out my heart to God all the time. Just me and God. However many times being able to share what I've learned along the way with others and get it down on paper (or my blog for that matter) is what truly seals the deal. I can no longer make excuses for continuing to act in a destructive way or have the same old patterns of thinking once it is out in the open.

I recently started reading a book my father-in-law gave my husband titled Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. In it, the author speaks of some of the "spiritual disciplines" Christians follow such as praying, fasting, studying, and worshiping. Some of these so called spiritual disciplines are oftentimes overlooked while others are done almost with a subtle legalism. Nonetheless the spiritual disciplines when practiced serve to enrich our relationship with our other believers and more importantly, our heavenly father.

At this point in time, I find that I could certainly make use of one of the disciplines Foster emphasizes in his book, the discipline of confession. You see I've always been pretty bad at this. Then again, I'm not such a bad person. I don't steal, lie, or cheat. I love my husband, I serve at my church, I share Christ's love with everyone I met (or at least I try to). Yet in the depths of my heart can be found some pretty nasty sin. Although it may not be as blatant as murder or adultery, God can see it and He does not want me to continue to cling to it.

I'm not quite ready to share with the entire blogosphere (or Facebook for that matter since my posts are linked to my FB profile) what it is that God has been showing me but I will say that it is an ugly beast that rears its head more often than I'd care to admit. Richard Foster puts it this way, ‎"If we only had a tinge of the sense of revulsion that God feels toward sin, we would be moved to holier living." I believe that I'm at that point where I am so disgusted by it that I genuinely want to rid myself of it and be free.

I will share some of the practical steps that Foster records in this chapter on confession. First he says that as we confess our sins, we must confess concrete sins. Those are not only the sins that others can see but are definite and include the sins of the heart such as anger, pride, envy, etc. After we confess our sin, sorrow must follow. He describes sorrow as not only an emotion but "an abhorrence at having committed the sin, a deep regret at having offended the heart of the Father." Lastly, there must be a determination in us to avoid the sin altogether. At this point we can ask God to give us a desire to live in a holy manner and hate unholy living. In addition, once we confess although we will experience sorrow in the beginning, at the end we should feel joy. "Confession begins in sorrow, but it ends in joy." This is because once we acknowledge our sin, we receive God's forgiveness and are free to change.

Of course, confession is not something that can be done with anyone. We should seek to find wise and Godly people to confess to. One way to find the right person is to ask God in prayer to lead you to that person. Also be sure to observe the person for evidence of having a genuine and intimate relationship with Jesus themselves. According to Foster he believes people who possess the following characteristics would be ideal persons one could confess to: spiritual maturity, wisdom, compassion, good common sense, the ability to keep a confidence and a wholesome sense of humor.

I have said this in the past and I will say it again, "This book has changed my life". It's not the profound truths I have read on the pages of this book but more so how God has worked in my heart to help me to overcome my sense of complacency with my comfortable Christianity and strive to become a woman wholeheartedly committed to knowing, loving, and serving the Lord. I pray that I would never feel comfortable with my level of Christianity but that I would continually be challenged to grow in my pursuit of my Savior.

Confession from a Facebook Addict

Every morning when I wake up the first thing on my mind is "What will I do first?" Since I am on summer vacation, it can be easy to spend/waste my day away on Facebook.

Today I decided to grab a glass of oj, log into my Facebook account and then do my devotional. I even updated my status on Facebook to read "Devo Time" because I knew that I would be accountable to following through with my word and would not put it off until later.

Is there something wrong with the chronological order of events in my day so far? I would shout, "ABSOLUTELY!". Why am I spending time with God after Facebook? I need to be seeking God first.

I do not believe there is anything wrong with social networking on Facebook, Twitter or on blogs. However, I do believe that the time we invest in those things tells us a lot about the condition of our heart. The bible puts it this way, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)

Sadly so, my heart is in Facebook. I can try to justify it any way I want. "It's a good way to witness, to share a wise counsel, to invite others to church." But the truth of the matter is when I do those things before seeking God, I am doing them on my own and in my own strength.

I need to spend time with the man if I want my priorities to be aligned with his plans for me. Today I commit (and want you to hold me accountable) to seeking Him first. My plan is to create a routine: 1. Prayer, 2. Bible reading and 3. Journaling. Now is the best time to start.

Here is a the devotional that God used this morning to convict me of my sin. I pray that the Lord will continue to use it in a powerful way to bring subtle sins to light. So many times, we repent of the big things and fail to see those little things that can be so destructive in our lives.