What is the Key to Self-discipline?

Blog Series

Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble

It is said that you cannot break the laws of God. You can only break yourself against them when you violate them. In this series we are looking at some of the simple and clear “laws of God” – that is to say, “biblical principles” – that we must follow if we do not want to bring very negative cause-effect consequences into our lives.

We said last week that the key to freedom is discipline. This week, we ask the question, “What is the key to discipline?” The hard part is figuring out how to get more discipline.

What does the Bible say about self-discipline?

The Bible teaches that self-discipline is a virtue and is part of the fruit of the Spirit that we all ought to possess: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Let’s look at some additional passages that teach the virtue of discipline:

• “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 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. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-26 – NLT).
• “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures a city.” (Proverbs 16:32).
• “[Add to your] knowledge self-control” (2 Peter 1:6).
• Jesus taught that we should be faithful to use wisely the resources God gives us (Matthew 25:26).

So, we see throughout the Bible that self-discipline is a virtue we should all possess.

Of course, none of us are totally disciplined or totally undisciplined. And we are likely more disciplined in some areas than others. But overall, the Bible teaches that discipline is a virtue and lack of discipline is a liability. The less disciplined we are, the more we pay the cause/effect price.

How do we develop more self-discipline?

Some of us are naturally more self-disciplined than others. And, some of us had self-discipline nurtured in us by our family, which encouraged our natural level of discipline – and some did not. So, for some of us the need for self-discipline is more acute than for others. Many, however, would admit to the need or desire for greater self-discipline.

Developing more self-discipline, however, is not an exact science. In fact, some ways are better for some people, and other ways are better for other people. In spite of that, there are some widely recognized strategies that are helpful.

For Christians, developing more self-discipline is a symbiotic relationship between us and the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 2:12-13 says, “…work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” 

This passage tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who works in us for God’s good pleasure, and we respond… God works – we respond. That is the process of spiritual growth.

Growth does not come to the passive, but to those who respond to God’s work in our lives.

So, like many things in life, we grow by doing as well as we can at the time, looking to God to strengthen us to do more. As in the gym, we get stronger by lifting light weights, which strengthens us to lift medium weights, which strengthens us to lift heavy weights. 

Perhaps the single greatest stimulator of self-discipline is desire.

To sustain self-discipline, we have to want something badly enough to pay the price. Remember last week, we recalled two great questions: “What do you want out of life?” and, “Are you willing to pay the price?” Those questions are the beginning point for effective growth in self-discipline.

Rory Vaden, in his bestselling book, Take the Stairs – Seven Steps to Achieving True Success, wrote “Don’t concentrate on willpower; concentrate on the ‘prize.’ Unless we see clearly where we want to go, and nurture the desire to get there, we will not likely be able to maintain the self-discipline necessary to succeed.”

We saw last week that Olympic gold-medalist Mary Lou Retton was asked if she ever thought about quitting before she got to the Olympics. She replied, “Oh, yes. Many times. But then, when I realized it would be the death of my dreams, I always kept going.” Again, desire was the root of self-discipline.

Lee Iacocca, the Ford auto executive who developed the iconic Ford Mustang once said, “You’ve got to say, ‘I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough, I can have it.’ It’s called perseverance!”

Finally, Olympic gold-medalist Jesse Owens remarked, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes self-discipline.”

So, the task is to concentrate on the dream. That’s what feeds self-discipline.

Next, we reinforce the dream (desire, vision, purpose, goal) by reviewing it over and over and over.

Our brain does not necessarily believe what is true. It often believes what it is told most often. So, if we do not continually reinforce in our brain what our vision for our life is, that vision gets drowned out by the chorus of lies and distractions that modern culture provides over and over every day. As a result, our vision fades and so does our self-discipline. To offset the eroding power of modern culture we have to reinforce our vision continuously. When we do, our vision is kept fresh, and our self-discipline remains high.

Finally, we pray.

God wants us to change. He wants us to develop greater self-discipline. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds to the truth of Scripture (2 Corinthians 2:10-13), convict us of sin and call us to righteousness (John 16:8), and build into us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Since that is God’s desire for us, how eager God must be to have us come to Him in prayer, asking for Him to work in our hearts and minds to give us increasingly greater self-discipline.

It is as 1 John 5:15 teaches, “We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for” (NLT).

Conclusion

There is much more to be known about self-discipline. I read a very helpful book not too long ago about cultivating self-discipline that included principles that have been proven in research to be effective. That book, The Science of Self-Discipline, by Peter Hollins, and other easily found related resources might be valuable if you wish to study further. The key, however, is to create a vision of what you want of life, continuously reinforce that vision, and look to the Lord to lead you into the discipline necessary to realize it.

We must be patient. As someone once said, “You can’t be holy in a hurry.” It will take time.

And we must be tenacious. We will slip often. But when we do, we get up again.

We can change. We can be more disciplined. And we can begin now. We have much to gain if we do.

In case you’re new here

The entire “Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble” series is in the archives, beginning with the first post on July 26, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives.

In addition, I’m creating a new online membership site, The Change Zone, that will provide information, strategies and resources to help motivated Christians renew their mind and transform their lives. If you would like to learn more about this and get updates to know when The Change Zone will be available, click here.

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