July 10
“But I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)
A fifth reason why we might stumble in sin after a period of victory and go through cycles of victory and defeat is that we may be undisciplined and untrained in righteous thinking and behavior. This is a big one for me. Discipline is difficult, and not very enjoyable. It is much easier to just “go with the flow,” to just live the way I want to live, to have sort of a laissez faire attitude in my Christianity. Perhaps I may even think I am being “led by the Spirit” by not having particular habits or disciplines in my life.
Perhaps some people can live in the Spirit in that way, but I know I never could. For me, walking in the Spirit is walking in discipline and diligence, having a clear idea of what I want and need to do in advance, written down (recall our discussion a few days ago about how easily we forget things), and following it with His help and ongoing prayer for progress and success. For me, the best day is one where I have a long to do list, and I pray over it and have prioritized it and have asked the Lord to redeem the time and give me progress, and I attack the list with diligence, keeping at it, and seeing many things, even the hardest and most important things, getting accomplished.
I believe that this is the way we need to approach our spiritual lives as well. We need spiritual goals. We need a God-breathed plan. We need a godly purpose in our lives. We need a continual reminder of who we are in Christ and what our purpose is on this earth. We need a mind set on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. And we need the Holy Spirit so filling us and infusing us with power and wisdom that we accomplish things we never dreamed we could.
Likewise, in the specific area of overcoming temptation, we need a purpose and goals. We need a mind set on the things above (Colossians 3:1). We need to understand ourselves and understand the temptations that beset us, and we need a plan of attack that will get us to the finish line and see us victorious time and time again. We need to bring the old nature, the sinful nature that resides within us, fully under the control of the spiritual man. We cannot let him out or give him control even for a brief time. As Paul provided an example to follow, so we too need to buffet our bodies and make them our slaves lest we become a slave to our lusts.
We need discipline and diligence in the things of Christ, and for many of us, we need them far more than we realize. Lacking a clear game plan and the discipline to follow it could result in a vicious and very discouraging cycle of victory over temptation followed by defeat, one that leaves us wondering if we will ever master the things that make us fall. There is hope, but it requires discipline and commitment, something that unfortunately many are not willing to do.
How about you? How is your discipline in the Lord? Are you buffeting your body and making it your slave, or is it buffeting you and making you its slave? What habits of discipline is the Lord indicating to you that you should develop? How badly do you want victory? Have you prayed diligently for discipline, and have you obeyed what the Lord is telling you to do?