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by Ami Samuels

In his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald S. Whitney writes:

“I’ve seen Christians who are faithful to the church of God, who frequently demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for the things of God and who dearly love the Word of God, trivialize their effectiveness for the Kingdom of God through lack of discipline.”

Spiritually, they are a mile wide and an inch deep. There are no deep, time-worn channels of communing discipline between then and God. They have dabbled in everything but disciplined themselves in nothing.

Consider the people who will work hard at learning to play an instrument, knowing that it takes years to acquire the skills; those who will practice hard to lower their golf score or to improve their sports performance, knowing it takes years to become proficient; those who will discipline themselves throughout their careers because they know it takes sacrifice to succeed. These same people will give up quickly when they find the spiritual disciplines don’t come easily, as though becoming like Jesus was not supposed to take much effort.

The undisciplined are like playwright George Kaufman, who was enduring a sales pitch from a gold mine promoter. The salesman was praising the productivity of the mine in hopes of persuading Kaufman to buy shares in it.

‘Why, it’s so rich you can pick up the chunks of gold from the ground.’

‘Do you mean,’ asked Kaufman, ‘I’d have to bend over?’

The gold of Godliness isn’t found on the surface of Christianity. It has to be dug from the depths with the tools of disciplines. But for those who persevere, the treasures are more than worth the troubles.”

What if I told you where to find the key to peace, hope, and joy? All you have to do is read and apply the words of the Bible.

Just as we discipline our body through diet and exercise, we should discipline ourselves daily in Bible study and prayer.

Join me in as we flex our spiritual muscles and grow in our daily walk with the Lord.

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