Overwhelmed by My Blessings: Encouragement for Moms (Part 9) Намуна

Maybe you made it to day three of your new workout plan, or even eight days into your new eating plan or One Year Bible reading plan. Then life happened and you didn’t get back to it. Maybe you gave up Dr Pepper or Diet Coke, but the craving overpowered you and you gave in. Or, you were going to give up saying ”that” word, but it slipped right past your lips. You didn’t mean to give up. Your “want-to” simply gave out and it was too hard to continue. How can we overcome our weakness to push through and stick with things we know are His best for us?

Discipline. Ugh. We are not very good at it. We try and try, and our best intentions take flight.

In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul talks about buffeting his body. Disciplining his body into submission and obedience to the Holy Spirit and making it his slave. He is training his body into new behavior. The Greek word translated to discipline in this verse is actually so strong: it means beating your body until it is black and blue! Ouch. That’s harsh discipline. With Paul’s realization that he is the dwelling place of God, body, soul, and spirit, he tells his body what to do and does not allow his body to decide for him. 

We have this same opportunity, but we are weak students who lack self-control. Being a disciplined person goes against our nature of self-protection and ease. Being resistant to inflicting pain upon our own bodies, we give up. Our plans don’t last. Getting up early to read your Bible is no fun when you’ve been up with a kid or three in the night. It’s painful to make yourself climb out of a warm bed when you are finally sleeping well. Those sweets are a reward after a hard day, and a Dr Pepper would taste so good! We give up on exercise when we get sore, and one more burpee is more than we can fathom. But, to be His disciple means we will suffer. To suffer with him is the radical calling and choice to be recreated into His likeness (2 Timothy 2:12; Philippians 1:29). 

Wouldn’t it be a comforting thought to believe that since Jesus took our sins and was physically beaten, we won’t have to go through a physical “beating”, a disciplining of our own bodies? This is not what scripture tells us (1 Peter 4:1-2).

But, there is good news for you and me! We are not on our own. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit of God Who lives in us! Through a loving, living relationship, and a heart willing to please Him, our ability to become a disciplined person takes on new meaning. Discipline becomes tangible because it is the willing response of a heart turned fully to Him. We are no longer working on self-improvement because our changed heart creates a changed mind, giving us His ability, the powerful self-control, to press forward in obedience. 

We honor ourselves and our King, when our discipline comes from the inside, affecting change on the outside. It is a willing suffering to become all that He has called us to be. Honestly, this type of suffering that we so often resist is trivial compared to those who have given their lives rather than to deny Jesus.

No more beating ourselves up over our failures. But, we must be willing to shut down our cravings and laziness and be submitted to who He has truly called us to be, mind, soul, and body. We must be willing to do the hard work. 

Self-discipline, being His disciple, is aligning ourselves to a set of principles that have great purpose. Becoming a disciplined person not only decides our future, it also determines the quality of our life today.  Be disciplined. He’s right there with you, giving you the power and ability to continue, even when it is difficult. 

Oh, Father. These words shake me up. You know my tendencies to start something and quit. I realize that my choices affect my future and my now, and are an example to my family. My choices show what I believe about You, and I repent of my laziness.  I pray for the fortitude and determination to make my body respond to Your Spirit, to Your gift of self-control. I know I am Your daughter, and I choose to represent You well. Right now, I submit myself and my excuses to You willingly. I will boldly write down today’s date as a marker of the day I chose to be all in—even in my weakest areas—and I will tell someone so they can hold me accountable. May my desires become Your desires for me to be all You have created me to be. I’m excited at the freedom to come!

Consider reading today’s scriptures from The Message