LEARNING, TRAINING, AND DISCIPLINE

Ever watch track and field events?  Ever watch a baseball game?  football game?  Swimming competition?  All of the athletes you see run the race All of the baseball players  or football players do not play in the game.  Some sit on the bench.  All of the swimmers don't get to swim those final laps.  Yet, they all learn by years of practice and training.  They all learn to discipline their bodies to perform.  Yes, some use substances that enhance their performance that gives them an unfair advantage.  To win the race, the game, the competition one begins years before that magic moment to discipline the body and the mind.

As Christians, we are also call to discipline.  We are to maintain balance in our life through learning, training, and discipline.  But we cannot do it by ourselves.  We need God's help.  This is why Jesus told the disciples that God would send a Helper.  The Helper is the Spirit of God that convicts us our sin and leads us into faith in Jesus Christ.  This Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, resides in us and helps us to grow or learn and gives us help to train our minds, our bodies, our emotions, and our spiritual being to be like Christ in what we say and do.  The Holy Spirit guides us across the finish line so when the day comes for us to depart this earth, we go to be with God.

Holy Spirit, guide our steps today.  Take us where we need to be.  Control our thoughts, what we say, and our actions.  We need you!

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.   I Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT