In the New Testament, Paul writes about how we should train for our goal to be more like Christ, while also giving us a warning on how we shouldn’t train. Thankfully, he makes it easy to keep our eyes on the prize with a spiritual Do’s and Don’ts list. Let’s dive into three of them here:
Do run with intentionality
Don’t run aimlessly
“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 someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
This is how you start. With intentionality. With a plan.
Last Sunday, the Museum District campus and online community got to hear a phenomenal message from Terry Williams about greed. When I was talking with Terry last week about what it was like owning a gym and how physical fitness relates to spiritual fitness, he told me that the number one reason people fail in their fitness journey is because they don’t have a plan.
50% of people that start a gym membership drop out within the first six months because they don’t have a plan. Without a plan you’ll only last as long as your circumstances. So Terry said that he’ll see people aimlessly run around his gym, life happens, and quit.
The second thing that he said is that the people who tend to stick it out the longest are the ones who are the most curious. The ones that ask the most intentional questions. Terry sees a direct correlation in the number of questions someone asks and the likelihood that person will succeed.
He compares two different types of people that he sees: the first person comes in obsessed with losing 10 lbs. They don’t care how it happens, they just want to lose weight. They’ll either take whatever he says blindly (like blind faith) or they act like they have it all figured out and don’t need to ask any questions. The second person isn’t obsessed with this narrow goal – they’re curious and ask questions that lead to a deeper, healthier lifestyle.
It’s the same way with your faith. If you want to grow deeper, you have to have a plan, and you have to ask questions along the way. There’s a couple that goes to The Story that recently made an intentional plan to read the Bible together for the first time. Every week they send me a list of questions about what they just read. I’m talking like twenty questions per email. This week’s email had questions that blew my mind. It was harder than most of my seminary tests. Their plan and their questions have led them to a depth in their faith that they wouldn’t have developed otherwise.
So, that’s the first – don’t run aimlessly. Be intentional. The second is:
Do discipline yourself
Don’t be deceived
“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things.” – 1 Timothy 4:7-8
That Greek word for train is also translated to discipline. Discipline yourself to be godly.
Discipline has been a big word around my house lately. My wife and I have two kids three and under. We have a 16 month old son (Drew), and a three and a half year old daughter (Becca). They are the best kids in the world…. 95% of the time. The other 5% is like a warzone. If you have never been around a toddler before, think of any type of reasonable behavior, and then imagine the exact opposite. Everything is a battle. Putting on clothes in the morning, getting her in her car seat, picking her up from school, leaving the park, trying to eat dinner together, and any and every task around the house, Kim and I are constantly thinking about the best ways to discipline our daughter.
There’s one discipline we have been adamant about from the beginning and that’s her bedtime routine. In the beginning, it was a struggle. There was literal blood, sweat, and tears, but we kept at it. Every night. No matter what. We give her a bath, change into pajamas, brush her teeth, read two books, and then I rock her in a chair and we sing “Jesus Loves Me”. Every single night. No matter what. And that led to one of my favorite moments I’ve ever had as a parent when my wife and I walked in on my daughter holding my son in her arms and singing “Jesus Loves Me” to him.
That moment doesn’t happen without months and months of sleepless nights, tears, tantrums and us still insisting that we were going to follow through with this routine. That discipline produced a rhythm and a lifestyle.
Spiritual discipline – though maybe painful at first – produces self control. We’re commanded to practice these disciplines that are backwards with our culture. We’re called to be stingy with our bodies, and promiscuous with our wallets. We’re called to pray, fast, and withhold from even good things, instead of indulging in everything that we see fit. We’re called to a self controlled lifestyle that is foreign to our culture.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” – Galatians 5:22-23
So true self-control is not ultimately controlled by the self, but by the Spirit. You will burn out in your faith if you rely on yourself. Here’s how I know: it happened to me. I thought that practicing spiritual disciplines was my way to earn godliness. And I burnt out. I had to learn the hard way that spiritual disciplines are a path to godliness, not godliness in and of themselves.
Jesus had some really stern words to say to the religious leaders about this. These were the guys that were the most spiritually disciplined people. You were not going to out discipline the Pharisees, but Jesus considered them the epitome of ungodliness. He called them white-washed tombs that looked great on the outside, but dead on the inside. Terry Williams would say it’s not about looking healthy, it’s about being healthy.
So – be intentional, don’t run aimlessly. Be disciplined, don’t be deceived. And finally:
Do train others
Don’t just train yourself
Jesus could have easily done his entire ministry by himself. He’s God in the flesh. He can be in two places at once. He didn’t need 12 other guys to help him, but he chose them, he invited them in, and he trained them. There is no other leader in the history of the world that you know the names of their disciples.
Jesus makes a point by continuously training his disciples for his ministry and his kingdom. Training others to be like Christ is part of your training to be like Christ. And your training is never done. Training others isn’t just an invitation reserved for pastors, or church staff, or people with seminary degrees. It’s for you.
If we’re honest, the biggest threat against our training and training others isn’t necessarily that we don’t know how, it’s that we’re too busy. That’s the most common excuse I hear, and honestly that’s the excuse I use the most. But when we really peel back those layers, it’s not that there’s not enough time. It’s that there’s not enough desire. Nothing is more important in your life than the awakening of this desire. It has eternal consequences. Don’t take the spiritual shortcut.
Run with intentionality. Discipline yourself. Train others. That’s your challenge this summer. That’s my challenge this summer. We’re all becoming more like Christ together.
