Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Corinthians 14:40/NIV). That’s one of my favorite Bible verses. Even though St. Paul specifically had orderliness in mind as it pertains to public worship, there are broader implications in this exhortation. Even as those responsible for planning worship should be sure it has order and focus rather than chaos and confusion, just so our personal lives should be marked by order and focus. And that order and focus needs to begin with daily discipline.
It’s easy to get caught in the trap of quick results when you focus on the outcome rather than the journey. The truth is, the joy is in the journey, in the daily discipline of growing in the details of your mind, body and spirit. The only way to bring abundance to your life–the kind of abundance that gives you joy–is to bring discipline into your life.
The first step to a well ordered life is making up your mind. It’s much more important to gird yourself for the grind of life, than it is to throw yourself into high gear for the occasional great and impressive affairs of life. The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that genuine spirituality isn’t proved from the pulpit or the classroom or in the Sunday School class. Rather, I believe genuine spirituality is demonstrated best by consistent living before God first of all, and then before those closest to us in the home, in the schoolroom, on the job, in the neighborhood, on the playground, and so forth.
A kind of spirituality can be seen on parade out in the open–but the kind of spirituality that God wants is that which is cultivated and practiced consistently and persistently in the routine of life. The challenge for each of us is to bring daily discipline into our lives. After all, discipline is at the heart of discipleship!
September/October 2000