“Therefore, I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” – 1 Corinthians 9:26-27
“But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.” – 1 Timothy 4:7-9
As you spend much time in training and then being disciplined in your thoughts and words (Psalm 19:14) so that your words and meditations are acceptable to your Lord by His grace, engaging in and maintaining like practice with your deeds, with all that you do, must also be in your daily focus. For God calls you to spend good time training and then remaining disciplined in your actions so that you bear good fruit in doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)
How should you go about such deed training? The Apostle Paul’s words to the saints in Corinth and Timothy above provide helpful guidance.
Consider Paul’s words to Corinth regarding his disciplining his body and bringing it into subjection and his reason for doing so. As you, Lord willing, are growing in understanding- the Christian life is a life of Spirit wrought training in self-discipline. When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27 that he disciplined his body, know that the Greek lit. means he gave himself a black eye (continuing with the boxing analogy). Though Paul really didn’t give himself a black eye, he knew that his opponent was himself. Therefore, he exercised self-denial and self-discipline for the furthering of the Gospel.
Paul knew that he was a sinner saved by grace. Knowing God’s grace, he desired to be a faithful minister, not a hypocritical one, not one who didn’t practice what he preached, one who would finally fall and be found disqualified in the verdict of the holy Judge. And so, Paul knew and sought to live according to Christ’s call in Luke 9:23-24 “…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”
Also look at Paul’s instruction of Timothy in 1 Timothy 4. He had just taught Timothy that he as a minister of the Gospel must be well fed, well nourished by the Word in the true faith before he sought to feed and nourish others. Indeed, good doctrine undergirds and is integral in good ministry, which by God’s grace then bears fruit in its application of good growth in you, as you are well nourished in your souls.
It isn’t enough for godly leaders in the church to rise up and say, “We don’t do that here.” Like Timothy, you must exercise yourselves towards godliness! The Greek word, “goomnazo” is where we get the English word “gymnasium” from. In this spiritual exercise, Paul calls the officers of the church, along with all of God’s people to lit. train and discipline yourselves towards godliness. In other words, spiritual discipline must be interconnected with your carrying out your duties. Really, spiritual discipline will fuel you carrying out your duties!
Matthew Henry provides this helpful comment on this passage- Those who would be godly must exercise themselves unto godliness; it requires a constant exercise. As you exercise in godliness, you must not only cease to do evil, but you must learn to do well.
Connected to the importance of growing in your spiritual health in what you do, ceasing from doing evil and learning to do well involves knowing practical pitfalls in other areas of life to be aware of, stay away from, keep in check, as well as remedies to keep in practice in your walk:
- Physical Health and Well-being: A lack of spiritual discipline in your life can be connected to a lack in other areas of discipline that can lead to laziness and avoiding good practices that you need to be disciplined to improve or maintain your health. Whether the struggle is being faithful and regular in exercising, working out, eating right, sleeping well, etc. your physical health can often be overlooked or ignored. However, these should be part of your concern in living a disciplined Christian life. God calls us to diligent obedience, and away from being sluggards. Therefore, take care of your body, as well as your soul. Seek to be active and work hard to the glory of God. For further study, read Proverbs 6:6-11, Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 19:15, Proverbs 20:4, 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
- Emotional Well-being: Though it’s true that there are times when emotional distress in the form of high stress, anxiety, depression, etc. come upon you even in the most diligent times of your walk as a Christian, it’s also true that there can be times when self-control is low. These can be very challenging times when the battle is in your thoughts, words, and actions- and often those together. You may feel trapped and discouraged in cycles of worry, in cycles of failure, repeating the same mistakes without progress. It’s true that you can’t make progress in your own strength. And yet, God calls you to flee to Jesus in prayer in such battle. He calls you to depend on and find your rest in Him. Further, He comes to you, stops your brain train, and gives you peace and refuge. Meditate on David’s prayer in Psalm 139 and make it your own to your Savior. Seek the Lord to be obedient to His command in 1 Peter 5:7.
- Relational Well-being: As it’s true that anger turned inward is a characteristic of depression, uncontrolled anger, and other unbridled emotions that can be sinful, turned outward can damage and destroy relationships. Good passages to study and apply to preserve relationships or restore damaged or broken relationships are Ephesians 4:25-32, Colossians 3:13, 1 Peter 4:8, James 3:13.
- Financial Stability: An undisciplined life easily leads to poor stewardship of the financial and other resources God has given you. Creating unnecessary stress for you and your family, overspending, going into unwise debt, impulsive spending, and spending addictions are common problems. It’s important to be good stewards of all that the Lord has given you. Therefore, overly simply put about your finances, create a budget. Be committed to living according to it. Get a good handle on your income and expenses, give your tithe to the Lord, spend less than your income, work to get rid of an unwise debt (i.e. credit card debt), and make intentional savings part of your stewardship. I commend Proverbs 3:9-10, Matthew 25:14-30, and 1 Peter 4:10 to your study.
- Work- Struggles with self-discipline in thought and deed can also become manifest in your job in areas like time management, prioritization, workload balance, task completion, etc. Therefore, this is yet another reason to seek help and God’s grace to grow in doing your work as unto the Lord and being a good Christian witness through word, work ethic, and Christian witness to those you work with, those you serve, and those who are watching and learning from you. Consider and apply the truths in Proverbs 14:23 and Ecclesiastes 9:10.