Discipline

 

My husband has been trying to lose a few extra pounds for several years now. He found it hard to get started because he was looking for motivation. Eventually, he decided that even without feeling very motivated, he would begin his weight-loss journey anyway. We updated some of our exercise equipment and set up a designated gym area in our home. He set daily workout times and committed to a healthier diet.

 

To our surprise, the more he stuck to his diet and exercise, the more his motivation and passion grew. 

 

However, a few days came when he had to leave town or had a very busy schedule. When one day without exercise turned into another, we noticed his motivation quickly faded. He lost some of the excitement he had at the beginning, and skipping those days made him less eager to continue. 

 

Many people think they need motivation to be disciplined and consistent, but it’s really the other way around: discipline and consistency lead to motivation and faithfulness.

 

I’ve seen the same to be true with our spiritual journey with God. When we first commit to a relationship with the Lord, we assume we need motivation and passion to stay faithful. But actually, being consistent and disciplined in spending time with Him fuels our motivation and supports our ability to remain faithful. When we neglect this discipline, it becomes harder to remain faithful.

 

The enemy will always attack our discipline because he knows how much it affects our zeal and faithfulness. He tries to keep us busy or distracted, doing everything he can to make us neglect our commitment.

 

This is clearly shown in Daniel's life in the Old Testament. The Bible says he "was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him" (Daniel 6:4). 

 

The king was very impressed and wanted to promote Daniel. But some people, jealous of him, knew the only way to stop his faithfulness was to make it hard for him to practice his discipline. They convinced the king to set forth a law that would prevent Daniel from spending time with the Lord. But the law didn’t stop Daniel; the Bible says he continued to pray "as was his custom" (Daniel 6:11).