Biblical Self Discipline: The Often Missed Truth
2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline.”
We could definitely use more of self-discipline if we try to be an effective steward of our time.
A Closer Look at the Text
The original Greek word translated as discipline in verse 7 only appears in the bible this one time. The word is sophronismos (G4995), which is closely related to sophron(G4998), meaning of sound mind (taken from solo (G4982) meaning to save (safe, that is deliver or protect) and phren G5424) meaning thinking). This is different from the word chasteneth in Hebrews 12:6 which in Greek is paideuo (G3811) meaning to train up a child by discipline – chasten, instruct, learn, teach.
So the idea of biblical self-discipline in verse 7 is having a sound mind – thinking the right thoughts.
Take a minute to let that sink in. What an insightful perspective!
Thinking vs. Doing
So often we look at self-discipline as when we correctly act. Discipline is running every day at 5 AM. Discipline is having a regular daily quiet time. Discipline is making an hour of sharing the Gospel on the streets when everyone else is sitting at home.
But what this verse shows us is that the way to biblical self discipline is not found simply in doing, but in the thinking behind the action. The “spirit of discipline” that we’ve been given is one of a sound mind leading to sound action.
The Power of a Sound Mind
It starts with a thought in our mind. In our minds we process the choices –> emotion or desire in the heart –> decision to act —> forms habit –> character.
Guard our mind… guard our thoughts.
When we accepted Christ, we died to our old nature. We are a new creation. Our spirit is alive. But our mind is not renewed, it still conforms to the world, our old self. How do you renew your mind? Through the Word.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1, 2 NIV)
The Holy Spirit imparts us with this sound mind that Paul speaks of. When tempted with an immoral act, the Holy Spirit counsels us with the implications of what we’re contemplating.
The same Holy Spirit can give us this sound mind in other areas of our life where we need discipline. We consciously remember the effects of our small choices on our goals. We understand the benefits and drawbacks of our options.
We live with discipline because we think with discipline.
Jesus Was a Finisher
John 4:34: “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.’”
John 17:4: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
God gave Jesus work. Not to merely try – but to accomplish. To finish.
Jesus was a finisher. “It is finished.”
Paul was a finisher.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7, 8 NIV)
How to Tackle Unproductive Fears the Biblical Way
Time management isn’t just about avoiding time wasters. It’s also about zealously investing your time into what matters.
It’s about taking on the fruitful but scary projects, doing the hard work, and pouring your life out for the glory of God.
You may feel a call, a passion, a ripe opportunity to dive into something – but there’s the fear. The fear that you can’t handle it. The fear that you’re inadequate. The fear that you’re a nobody.
The surest way to waste your time is to give in to this fear. We need to fight it, but how do we do that?
Seeing Your Inadequacy Is Good
First off, it’s okay to feel inadequate. The scriptures and the history of the church are full of people who felt that way.
In fact, a biblical view of humility says that feeling inadequate is a good thing. Christ said that “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Don’t Focus on Your Shortcomings
Keeping our eyes on our own inadequacies leads us to a life of procrastination and timidly going through the motions. Focusing on our fears and our shortcomings is a recipe for a wasted life.
The Self Esteem Answer
So what’s the solution?
At this point, many advocate self esteem.
Many tell you to believe in yourself. Never give up. Keep your dream in focus. You can do it.
This is often combined with self-discipline. We’re told to wake up early and stay up late. Hustle. Strive and fight.
And we’re told to do all this because deep down, we’re tough. Deep down, we’re strong.
In short, when the voices in our heads tell us we’re inadequate, we’re supposed to label that as a lie.
The Biblical Answer
Yet the biblical model is different.
When Moses was called to confront Pharaoh, Moses replied, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
God’s reply wasn’t “You can do it, Moses! Believe in yourself! Deep down, you’re a strong person!”
No. God’s reply was, “But I will be with you.”
When Gideon was called to lead the Israelite army against the Midianites, Gideon asked, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Again, God’s reply wasn’t to bolster Gideon’s self esteem. God’s response was “But I will be with you.”
Through His Power
God’s answer to our inadequacy is not to raise our opinions of ourselves.
The biblical response to our fears is to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on God.
Our inadequacies are real. In fact, we probably overestimate our own capabilities. But they don’t matter.
Our inadequacies are no match for God.
The Trap
Boosting self esteem seems at first like a plausible solution because the results often appear from an external perspective to be fruitful.
Self esteem can temporarily make it look like worthwhile things are happening.
But self is being glorified, not God. And eventually the house of cards will come crashing down.
Have you ever been tempted to escape your fears by bolstering your self esteem and self sufficiency?
Matthew Henry on John 4:34
He was not only ready upon all occasions to go to his work, but he was earnest and in care to go through it, and to finish his work in all the parts of it. He resolved never to quit it, nor lay it down, till he could say, It is finished. Many have zeal to carry them out at first, but not zeal to carry them on to the last; but our Lord Jesus was intent upon finishing his work.
Matthew Henry on John 17:4
It is recorded for example to all, that we may follow his example. 1. We must make it our business to do the work God has appointed us to do, according to our capacity and the sphere of our activity; we must each of us do all the good we can in this world. 2. We must aim at the glory of God in all. We must glorify him on the earth, which he has given unto the children of men, demanding only this quit-rent; on the earth, where we are in a state of probation and preparation for eternity. 3. We must persevere herein to the end of our days; we must not sit down till we have finished our work, and accomplished as a hireling our day.
Finishing isn’t easy, and finishing doesn’t happen instantly.
Finishing requires consistent work, striving in the calling that the Father has given, and considering that work so important and delightful as to be your food.
We can talk (and it’s great to talk) about how Jesus managed his time. How he worked consistently. How he prioritised well. How he rested.
But the point of all of this was to bring glory to God by finishing the work and finishing it well.
Don’t stop. Be a finisher like Christ. He gave everything he was given to do a finishing stroke eteleiosa – I have finished.
A Proper Understanding of Kairos Time
When Paul instructs us in Ephesians 5 to redeem the time, he chooses a particular word to express his concept of time.
It’s not the Greek word chronos, which means measurable or quantifiable time. It’s kairos, which means a season or an opportune time.
“How much time until lunch?” would use chronos. “Is it time for lunch?” would use kairos.
This word choice leads us to a particular understanding of time. Unlike our modern society, Paul views quality as the important factor in time, not necessarily quantity. I’ve written before about how we incorrectly have a chronos mindset where Paul instructs us to have a kairos mindset.
But I think there is also the danger of going to the opposite extreme.
Review of Kairos Mindset
Paul describes our time here on this Earth as a series of opportunities. We don’t want to keep our heads down and focus, focus, work, work – and miss the opportunities around us to serve others or to do good.
The best way to manage your time is not to rigidly schedule and obsess over minutes and seconds. The best way to manage your time is to keep an eye out for the potential around you and then to pounce when the moment is right.
Taken to the Extreme
But sometimes this leads us to think of our lives as only consisting of these special moments – the times to share the gospel, the times to talk with a friend, the times to step up and meet someone’s needs.
We romanticise the value of some uses of our time, and we can soon begin to think of the rest of our time as simply filler in between the events that really matter.
We can go to the opposite extreme and misunderstand exactly what opportunities we have.
Redeeming Our Opportunities
Here’s what’s important:
Every second carries with it an opportunity.
Yes, some opportunities are more valuable than others. Some of our time will present us with unique and worthwhile opportunities.
But every second carries with it some potential, some opportunity.
Redeeming our time, redeeming our kairos time, is not about waiting for those magic, meaningful moments. It’s about tapping the value out of each second.
Kairos Lifestyle Is Not Passive
Some incorrectly apply the kairos time mindset by thinking that it leads to a tranquil passivity. We patiently wait until presented with a particular situation to which we can respond.
But redeeming our kairos time is not about being passive. In fact, being proactive is how we redeem our kairos – it’s how we make the most of every fleeting second that we have.
Sometimes the opportunities that our time presents us with are the opportunities that are made by our proactivity. Sometimes the opportunities are the chances to invest slowly in some project that we’re working on.
And yes, sometimes the value is in recognising our chance to take a break to share the gospel with someone passing by.
But don’t be fooled – every second has some value. Squeezing the most out of our seconds is not a misguided chronos mindset. It is the mature kairos mindset of Paul.
Why Spiritual Discipline?
The Bible tells us that we are to be holy as the Lord is holy (1 Pet.1:15,16). But how do we get there? How do we gain a life that conforms to the likeness of Jesus Christ?
For centuries the church has relied on spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, worship, solitude, and fasting to further the sanctification of God’s people.
Following this pattern, the church today needs to recover the spiritual disciplines that are so essential to the Christian life.
Here’s why. . .
The example of the Scriptures
The Bible shows us that the Christian life is marked by certain practices. When you look at the followers of Christ in the Bible, what did they do? They prayed, they spent time in God’s Word, they served, they fasted, etc. . .
And they did these because Jesus Himself did them. Before calling His first disciples, for example, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer (Lk.6:12). The pattern of practicing the spiritual disciplines is well established in the Bible.
The instruction of Scripture
The Bible not only gives us the example of spiritual disciplines as a way of life, it also instructs us that we are to practice them. The Bible is straightforward when it tells us, for example, that those who live righteously and prosper are those who meditate on God’s Word (Ps.1:2).
Why does the Bible tell us such things? So we can be properly formed and developed as human beings to serve God in His kingdom.
To deal with the body
God gave us bodies, and with our bodies we carry out service to Him in the world. But the body is often a source of trouble for people. Many see themselves as imprisoned by their bodies and enslaved to its passions. It’s often thought that the only way to live a spiritual life is to escape from the body.
The spiritual disciplines are God’s means for bringing the body under subjection. By them we are able to bring our bodies into the service of the king rather live in service to our bodies. As Paul made clear, our bodies are to be our slaves, we are not to be enslaved to our bodies (1 Cor.9:24).
Godliness requires spiritual discipline
The Bible tells us that we are to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness, and it compares spiritual discipline with bodily discipline (1 Tim.4:7,8). Everybody is used to idea of bodily discipline for some purpose (like losing weight), but we easily presume that growth in godliness is automatic.
Could it be the reason why there appears to be so little godliness is that there is little serious application of the spiritual disciplines of the faith?
We have overestimated the contribution that right theology brings to the world
Theology is of critical importance. Understanding what the Bible teaches about topics like God, man, sin, Christ, redemption and the covenant is essential. But, we often overemphasise the good that is accomplished by right theology. Theology is a necessary means to the end of better living – it is not to put us in a place where we have mere “thoughts righteousness.”
Jesus said that we are to let our light shine before men so that they would see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven (Mt.5:16). In saying this, Jesus is talking about the way we live our lives before others. Faithful practice of the spiritual disciplines transforms our lives in a way that they can shine before the world.
We lack spiritual power
One of the greatest needs of the church today is spiritual power. Even for all that the church does right, it often lacks the spiritual power for these things to be effective and change lives. We need to recover the power of the Spirit.
God’s instrument for bringing power to the church is holy living developed by faithfulness in the spiritual disciplines. When Christ’s first disciples were frustrated by their lack of spiritual power, Jesus told them it was because of a lack of prayer and fasting in their lives (Mk.9:29).
The church really does have the answer for our times. Through Jesus Christ we have the hope of a new, transformed humanity, and the church is to bring this message to the world.
But in bringing the message to the world, we must do so as those who are transformed ourselves. This transformation can only come about as we practice the way of life that has changed people for ages.
We do not expect that an athlete or musician could ever excel in their callings without hours of disciplined practice. In a similar way, we cannot expect to obey the One we profess to love without incorporating the spiritual disciplines in our lifestyle.
May the same grace that draws us to Christ in the first place continue to be at work in us as we present our lives before Him by way of the spiritual disciplines of the faith.
His Discipline
DEITY DID NOT COVER for Jesus’ humanity. Just as he was subject to every temptation that comes to men and women, he had to exercise self-discipline over his human nature in order to remain free from sin. No special gift was conferred upon him because he was the Son of God or because he was filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism. Jesus entered the temptation with the same resources that are available to every common man or woman who seeks to do the will of God.
What were those resources? According to the Synoptic record, Jesus relied on the disciplines of prayer, Scripture, and obedience. Evidence before and after the experience shows that these tools of self-mastery were developed over a life-time. No person could spend forty days fasting in the desert who had never prayed before; no carpenter could quote Scriptures to the devil unless they were accurately and spontaneously known; no vigorous human spirit who had never learned to obey could submit himself fully to God.
Even though the temptation was a watershed in Jesus’ development, Satan only retreated temporarily, “biding his time” (Luke 4:13, NEB). Persistently, he baited Jesus with seductive traps until desperation led him to a frontal attack by pain and suffering. On none of these occasions did God intervene with supernatural forces to save his Son. Angels ministered to Jesus after he was tempted, but during the hours of stress, he had to stand alone. Only his strength as a disciplined man of prayer, Scripture, and obedience buffered him from sin. In the temptation, Jesus became more than a real and complete man who understands us; he also demonstrated that self-discipline is a prerequisite to maturity.