Discipline
Posted by Christian Lemon in Addiction, BLOG, Faith, Featured, Fitness, How To Be a Man, Physical Battles, Posts For Guys Who Like Posts, Sports | Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
A few years ago, two separate doctors told me I’d never run again, one an orthopedist and the other a podiatrist. Each had a different reason. Each gave wise advice. They spoke of a new reality, a new normal, a world in which my body was physically no longer able to function as it once did.
Shortly after Thanksgiving 2011, I ran my first half-marathon. That’s thirteen point one miles. I ran in just under two hours. Not easy. But I did it.
A week after the half-marathon, I ran the Tough Mudder. That’s twelve obstacle-filled, mud-choked miles of pain and will power. Not easy. But I loved all two hours and twenty five minutes of it. Yes, even when the electric shocks brought me to my knees.
Bragging? Yes, sir. Prideful boasting? Absolutely. But what’s the point? Discipline.
I have found discipline has brought me to the best places. Discipline anchors my creative and obsessive mind. Discipline forces my body to remain strong and healthy. Discipline rescued my marriage from a self-induced crisis. Discipline healed my sinful mind and brought me back into alignment with the God of my youth. When I am running with God, living a disciplined Christian life, everything falls into place.
From a distance, a disciplined Christian life looks to be full of binding rules and harsh regulations. I have to admit, sometimes it does feel that way. Like when I get an extra five piece at Wendy’s. You think I really want to give it back?
If you look closer, not only is a Wendy’s five piece garbage for your body, an incidental, yet once discovered, purposeful thievery, is garbage for the soul. While garbage in the belly is tasty on the tongue, garbage for the soul is always worthy of regurgitation.
Think of someone you admire. The qualities you most likely admire are born of strict discipline. Famous actors? They are disciplined in their craft. Athletes? Authors? Human pillars of Christianity? These are all disciplined human beings who long ago shed apathy for purpose and embraced the freedom-bringing path of discipline.
It feels so binding, doesn’t it? All the stuff you CAN’T do as a Christian. But once you pay attention, once you step back and take stock of what you were without Christ, and who you’ve become with Christ, you won’t miss what your new discipline has removed – you just won’t.
For an addict, this is not to say you won’t have that struggle. For a thief, you’ll miss the rush and joy of a good score. Discipline, however, replaces the fleeting rush of sin with the long term joy of obedience. You gain everything and lose nothing.
I’ve tried both lives. One, a selfish and shadowy descent into indulging my own varied desires. The other, a bright exuberant life of discipline and joy. One brought me to destruction. The other rebuilt me and birthed a man, no longer a boy, who was committed to a disciplined life of discipleship. Without exaggeration, and without added drama for the reader’s enjoyment, I can tell you since I’ve made the decision to live a life of discipline, all, not some, but all of my dreams are rushing toward me. They are all within grasp. God has offered me everything and withheld nothing. He makes demands. He makes requests, and they all revolve around one unifying, dividing and difficult attribute of Christian-living.
Discipline.
