Disciplining Yourself for a Purpose - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

“Bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

I’m amazed at how devoted people can be to what they believe is important. There are many people outside Christianity who live in rigid conformity to a lot of meaningless rules. People in totalitarian countries, for example, live in rigid conformity to rules predicated on a denial of biblical truth. They walk circumspectly and toe the mark.

Some cultists are so rigid and walk so circumspectly according to the principles dictated to them that if they’re told they can’t get married or can’t be with their spouses, they conform. They’re made to live in abstinence from physical relationships, follow strict diets, fast, and so on. Some attempt to attain spirituality through such self-disciplined acts as lying on a bed of nails or walking through hot coals.

Others, such as athletes, go through tremendous self-discipline through dieting, running, weight training, and other means that involve great sacrifice.

People disciplined in things that are ultimately meaningless may be lax in things that count. I know people who run three miles every day but will not bother to read the Bible regularly. I know other people who cannot discipline themselves to feed on the Word of God but stick rigorously to a diet. Many Christians worship physical fitness and health and are so conformed to the world’s system that they’re careless and lazy about conforming to Christ.

If you are a wise Christian, you’ll be sure to discipline yourself for godliness. You’ll know what pleases God, watch for Satan’s traps, resist the Devil, defeat temptation, and be selective about your behavior. In other words, you’ll not walk as a fool; you’ll walk in wisdom—living by God’s standards.

Thank God for His Son, the perfect example of spiritual discipline and godliness. Ask God to help you be like Him.

Sorry to disagree with big John, but godliness should not be our first priority in our life.

Why? As a goal, it is unattainable. It only comes as a result. Of what?

“That I may know Him.....” Philippians 3:10ff.

It is only knowing the Lord Jesus and walking closely with Him that produces godliness. Pursuing it as a goal is a vain pursuit - and could even be anti-christ, if it supplants our goal of knowing Him. Flesh and our enemy always want to substitute knowing Christ with some good thing - that is part of His nature and character - that we can never obtain apart from seeking Him first. The flesh can do nothing.

The goal of knowing Him as Paul (at the end of his life) says in Philippians. It was his goal. It should be ours.

Knowing Him results in all of His character traits being manifest in and through us. Nothing else will.

And we need to beware of anything that would supplant that goal.

“Sorry to disagree with big John, but godliness should not be our first priority in our life.”

I’m certain John MacArthur is aware of how godliness is pursued and obtained.

Further, the scriptures very specifically tell us to pursue it:

1 Timothy 6:11 NKJV
But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

“Knowing Him results in all of His character traits being manifest in and through us. Nothing else will.”

True, and an excellent point to add to the discussion.

I’d add that Biblical standards of godliness do help us better know God and His character. It is possible for people to claim they know and follow Jesus but their behavior contradicts these claims. This is not advocating mere outward conformity and compliance with a list of dos and don’ts, but we must not become a law unto ourselves, so to speak.

Mindfully pursuing godliness in the light of how the Bible teaches us it is achieved is the proper approach.

My dear fellow saint -

As to the great teacher John, my post was not for him of course, as I agree he most certainly knows this. I greatly respect him and am thankful for his powerful ministry. And many times in my 57 years of ministry have others graciously pointed out things I said that needed to be balanced.

What I wrote was for the beloved saints here, most of whom, I suspect, likely did not know what I wrote.

Your point on scripture saying to pursue these virtues is well-taken, but needs the balance of the deeper truth of how our Lord’s virtues become ours. I will never have one atom of righteousness - but as I come to know His righteousness and Him as my righteousness, that virtue will be manifest in me.

Have not whole denominations been founded in the erroneous pursuit of one of our Lord’s virtues......?

I truly believe the spiritual weakness in many believer’s lives and churches is due to a failure to know the central truth of our need simply to know “Christ Jesus and Him crucified”. I Corin. 2:2

Imagine if knowing Him were a central truth preached everywhere......would that not produce in us both individually and corporately all that God desires of us?

“that in all things He might have the pre-eminence...” Colossians 1:18

Yes, I agree.

It is easy to become distracted with checklists of things to do and not do. Goals to achieve. Things to avoid. Life itself keeps us busy. Time is fleeting. Focus is essential.

From the passage you initially cited, Paul describes this as his sole aim:

Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He says, “One thing I do.” And that thing, in so many words, as you stated earlier, from verse 10, is to “know Him.”

Great reminder. Perhaps you will consider writing devotionals and posting them on this forum. (?)

Dear friend in Christ -

I did write one 2-week devotional many years ago - hope it is ok to post here:

http://www.el-shaddai.org/Ps.23_Meditations.html

But don’t sense that is something I am called to do...many great devotionals already written, Oswald Chambers MUFHH being my favorite.

My great burden is in 2 areas:

One, that God’s people would learn to love and study His Word themselves, to receive from Him directly and not be dependent on pre-digested food written by others......most believers received most of what they know from the ministry of others and not directly from the Lord in the scriptures as He desires of us. Our knowledge of Him is thus mostly 2nd hand. While truth is truth, 1st hand or 2nd hand, personal revelation and knowing how to hear from above in scripture is so rare today. Thus anything I write is in contradiction to this burden. I am so grateful to my teachers and mentors who drilled this into me when I was young and in my first years of ministry.

Second, my current passion in my 80th year is that our focus would be what Paul states in Philippians 3 on “knowing Him” - directly and personally. 3:10ff is the key. This focus on knowing God is actually found from Genesis to Revelation. It was Paul’s focus.

The first half of Paul’s major epistles all was focused on one truth: Who our Lord Jesus is and what He did on the cross. Only after thorough explanations of this did he then, in the 2nd half of his major epistles tell us what the results of knowing Him should look like - i.e., what we should do.

The focus of all religions is on what we should do. Sadly, the great focus of most ministries and churches today is on what we should do, making the Christian faith like all other religions.

Paul (and the Holy Spirit) knew that all God desires to see in our lives - individually and corporately - can only come as a result of knowing “Christ Jesus and Him crucified.”

So that is the focus of the full first half of Pauls major epistles - Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.

What if all ministry today spent fully half (notably the first half) on who the Lord Jesus is and his finished work on the cross? Romans 1 - 8, Ephesians 1 -3, Philippians 1 - 2, Colossians 1 - 2?

Where can you find a church or a ministry that is focused, like Paul was, on the person & work of our Lord Jesus?

Yes, the 2nd half of these epistles - on what we should do - is important. BUT ONLY AFTER WE FIRST KNOW the first half!

Whatever years I have remaining in serving my wonderful Lord and Master I believe should be focused on knowing our Lord Jesus and His finished work on the cross. The 2nd half is more than well-enough covered by others.

I see the first half greatly missing. Sadly missing. My tiny part is in addressing the first half - the most important half. In any way I can.

God bless......

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.