Skip to main content

A Routine Checkup



[Athletes] believe the pleasures of the “wreath”... are superior pleasures to the pleasures of self-indulgence. 1 Cor 9:24-27

 We often chalk up our discipline failures to a lack of will power... Our will always obeys our wants... [but] once we experience the unpleasantness of self-denial, the inspiration evaporates... we didn’t really believe in it. It was a fantasy... It wasn’t a lack of will power; it was a lack of reward power.

 https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-secret-to-self-discipline

God demands our firstfruits, but when it comes to our mind, too often he gets the worn-out, haggard thoughts at the end of the day... We want to be like David.  We want all of the glorious victories, but we don’t want any of the tedious struggles.

 https://oxfordvalleychapel.org/sermons/focus-and-discipline-in-the-life-of-a-christian/

...the goal is to be be formed into Christ likeness, to be present with Christ... Getting a degree is good, but being formed into Christ likeness is a far better reward and should be the ultimate goal of your Christian education. 

 https://www.convergemedia.org/the-importance-of-spiritual-disciplines/

As usual, I've been noticing some things about myself that I don't much like. I saw a woman, haggard and talking to herself, and thought, "I used to really care about that kind of person". It has caused me to reflect on the devoutness of my pursuit of Christ. As I approach middle-age, I really may be coming to settle into some bad habits that are diffusing all into my mind and body. I think shit thoughts and I eat shit food. And I drink too much... it's just so easy to do. 

 Which is why I need to find some other things to do. 

 I began yesterday morning with coming up with a fitness plan. I pray that it is a step toward a wellness plan. I have many terrible habits of mind and body and I need to bring them into control so that I'm not living life amiss; living a life in pursuit of the world's pleasures. 

 I'm sure that I'm not alone in my folly. 

 Nonetheless, I don't feel good about it. I'm in need of reorienting to the real reason for Christianity... namely, CHRIST! I have, in all my seeking and doing, forgotten about the Lord. But something happened as I watched Jesus depicted in the Book of John pre-Easter and Easter. I was challenged. I saw a man who said very crazy (er, remarkable) things about who He was and where He came from. And I felt my spirit stir.

 And now I'm on today. 

 I read a few articles this morning on discipline and routine. My Google search was literally, "why routine and discipline are so important to a Christian". I am the better for it. There were some common themes I saw in the top 3 hits, about discipline and routine being about the pursuit of joy, more than stoicism. There was also a common theme of John Piper, which I will have to consider, and 1 Cor 9:27. Tangential to John Piper, I may pick up a book or 2 by Jon Bloom, co-founder of Desiring God. I've read a few things by him on these morning digs. I like his blend of heart and head. 

 This writing comes on the coattails of "The Thing That is Needed" post, where I discovered after much writing that I was Martha. And that I need to bring my focus and feeling to that of Mary. She didn't miss out.

 Heavenly Father, thank you for the abundance of clear writing on just about all things. We are not lacking in information. But we may be lacking in common sense. More accurately, we may be lacking in the pursuit of what common sense describes. We are lazy. In this information age when we just have to dream it up and then pay for that dreamt up thing to be delivered to our door the next day, it is hard to think that there are things that are worth working really hard for. Why work hard if everything you need comes so easy? But it is fiction, it is falsehood, it is not faith. Anyone who is worth their weight has been tested and has come out sharp and agile by means of practice at their craft (Heb 5:14). So let it be with me, let me become more practiced as a soldier of Christ.

 In Jesus Name,

 Amen





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Time for a Hasty Decision

This morning, I awoke reflecting on yesterday. What I've been complaining to my wife recently about is that I'm always feeling attacked by my bosses. Like all things, there is some truth to it and some error in perception. I felt I should read a bit about defensiveness, just to get an idea of how it's happening with me and what I can do to stop it. I came up with the following diagram: from these really simple and straight forward articles: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-cycles-fear-cycles/201805/why-do-people-get-so-defensive https://www.amazon.com/Love-Cycles-Fear-Connection-Relationship/dp/1590794400 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-be-yourself/201805/how-stop-getting-defensive I see my problem, it's that I assume that people are coming from a bad place, and I just can't shake that. But even if people are coming from a bad place (whatever that means to me), I still have to find ways to turn it around. I have to work with a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Do of Potential Energy

James 4:17  New Century Version (NCV) Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning. Romans 7:15-18 For what I want to do I do not do, but  what I hate I do . And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.   The tension between my wife and I is coming to a breaking point. And that breaking point is either going to turn out for better or worse . The formula for distance is as follows: Matt (mistake) = Jess (distrust). And so it has gone for these 10 years. Notice that the formula does not include mitigation; in other words; Matt (good things) = Jess (approbation/trust) seems to be of negligible effect compared to the mistake coefficient. Thinking in terms of Gibbs free energy, the state of our relationship seems to be much more governed by mistakes (enthalpy) than be any good (entropy)....
Post a Comment
Read more

Mind Fullness

I don't know if I'm altogether down with the notion, but it certainly makes sense. SitD for today is all about the prerequisite of being in a place of rest to hear God. The contention from me comes when I see all manner of Psalmist saying, "I cried out... and the Lord heard me", or "in the midst of my storm". But I guess that the answer could have come in time of calm after the storm, and the Psalmists reflected back and realized that God was there all along. Being amateur as I am in faith, and to some degree untested, I hear CS Lewis in the back of my mind with words from Mere Christianity. To summarize and paraphrase: we may have all manner of experience with God, as the man in the desert, but without theology, without systematic study, application, learning and wisdom in the things of God. George Matheson writes, and I read, that calm is needed to hear God. That God will not speak amidst the turmoil of a frantic and busy life. I think, fretfully, w...
Post a Comment
Read more