Do not give up

The bible is filled with many exhortations about persevering, not giving up, holding on, waiting on the Lord, looking up to the Lord in times of trouble or when nothing is working. One would think with so many exhortations Christians would be experts at persevering and waiting on the Lord but that is sadly not the case. It is not because we are told repeatedly in the bible to persevere and wait on the Lord that the knowledge translates to understanding in our reality. Christians are people who know the truth, they know what to do, they have the theory and concept mastered but they lack in practice. Interestingly, people in the secular world might not know the truth about God but they have learned something powerful in making a change in one’s life, that is practicing consistency and discipline. This is not rocket science yet it is surprisingly the most neglected habit builder most of us lack. In the secular world, people are disciplined and consistent when they want to make a change in their lives or when they have set goals they want to achieve. Disciplining yourself has proven results, any businessman or entrepreneur can tell you this. In the bible, we are called to be people of discipline, people of character, people whose characters match their actions; we are called to be imitators of Christ. Perhaps our biggest challenge is in the fact that we do not often know where to start and when we do attempt to start, we feel weary along the way and we simply give up. I am in no way different than you in that but today, I want to encourage us to understand why we are disciplined people and what habits we can create to help us achieve our ultimate goal: to glorify God.

On the subject of why we are to be people of discipline, it is to put it simply because our master is a person of discipline. Jesus whom we imitate was a person of discipline while on earth and he still is today. He completed the task that was assigned to him from the beginning: dying on the cross on our behalf. While on earth, there were many distractions that came his way, from sick people that needed healing to the crowd wanting to crown him king before his time, it is clear that Jesus had plenty of opportunities to be distracted and to fall into the temptation of focusing on the wrong thing. Ironically, the wrong thing often times is not bad in itself, it can be a very good thing. For example, healing the sick is a good thing but that was not the goal of Jesus’ mission on earth rather, setting the captives free from the dominion of darkness and bringing them into the kingdom of God thus reconciling man to God was his ultimate mission which he did so wonderfully and for which we are eternally grateful. This act Jesus did now gives us who believe a new identity and a new family. As Paul says “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Therefore, as new creatures, belonging to the kingdom of God, we need to learn to live like citizens of the kingdom of God. We must appropriate the character, the mannerism and attitudes that are fitting for the kingdom of Light. This is where we have to imitate and replicate what Jesus did, being taught how to now behave. We go through a process of “deconstruction” from our sinful self and becoming students of the word of God to acquire the mindset of the Spirit. This is precisely what the word of God seeks to teach us by telling us to “not conform ourselves to the patterns of this world” (Romans 12:1) or to “not submit to the rules of the basic principles of this world” (Colossians 2:21). The remedy for not doing that is to do something else instead which is to set our hearts on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). The love of God compels us to live lives of righteousness. We now know better, our hearts have been changed and we now see ourselves for who we truly are and God for who He is. We delight more in Him and we want to honour Him because we know that He alone satisfies us truly and He alone deserves the honour and glory. Another reason as to why we are to be people of discipline who imitate our Lord is because there is a reward. The book of Hebrews tells us that God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). God promises to reward those who persevere under trials and persevere until the end. As Galatians says: “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Galatians 6:9). There is a time for reaping, there is a time for the reward, we must not just give up. Now that we understand the reasons why we ought to live lives of discipline, lives that honour the Lord, let’s look at habits we can implement to help us in that.

As Christians, the greatest advantage we have is the Holy Spirit living in us which means, we are never alone. God is with us as we seek to put strategies in place to achieve our goal of glorifying Him. This is not the case for every person, it is only the privilege of those who are in Christ. Therefore, our confidence is not in the strategies we put, the habits we develop, nor is it in our performance of them but it is in the One who holds us fast in the journey. How then do we become disciplined people, people who continue to do what pleases God when they do not feel like it or when the world is against them? I believe the answer is in becoming people of habits, new habits. We change our old habits with new ones. Our new habits have to align with the desires of the Spirit, anything that spurs us unto love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), anything that displays the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) or encourages us to go into that direction. There are three daily habits I believe every Christian must put in place: 1) scripture reading and meditating, 2) prayer and 3) application of the word. These are not new in themselves but becoming intentional in these will go a long way. The first habit we must put in place is a discipline of scripture reading and meditating. This is perhaps the foundation in living like a citizen of the kingdom of God. The Word of God is the word God has written for us and spoken to us. In it, we get to know who God is, what He likes and what He does not like, we get to learn about His character, His laws, His rules, His world and we get to learn about us, humans. It goes without saying that this must be the priority for every believer in Christ. It is our manna for the day. Just as we cannot live without food and drinks, we too cannot live without the word of God. It must be prioritized above our eating, our sleeping, our work. It is interesting how we are able to set habits for almost everything we like but when it comes to the word of God, we find flimsy excuses. I listened to an audio book recently called Atomic Habits in which the author was saying that you can create new habits on top of habits you already do. That way, your new habit won’t feel cumbersome since you are inserting it into something you already do. It becomes natural in a sense. He called it habit stacking. This could be a helpful trick to form a new habit. The second habit we must put in place is the habit of prayer. This is linked to the first habit because we want to pray the word of God, we converse with God about what He has said concerning us or the world. We also converse with God concerning our trouble. We pray, because it shows our dependency on God and not on ourselves. This is a discipline that no Christian can dispute is beneficial. There is much more that can be said on prayer but my goal is to quicken you to actually pray so include this in your daily habits. The third habit we can put in place is the application of the word of God, in other words: obedience. As we get more acquainted with the word of God, we will know what God requires and expects of us. Our obedience will be the proof that we are applying the word of God in our lives. The bible even cautions us to not merely be hearers of the word but doers of it as well. For the one who is not a doer of the word is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror but immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-25). This is such a scary predicament: to be able to see your true state and as soon as your gaze is away from the mirror you have forgotten what your true state is. May this not be our portion! Thankfully, the solution to this is obedience to the word of God. The more we do these habits, the more we will look like our Redeemer.

I know you have read the above and you are still thinking, this is easier said than done or maybe you will say “I have tried it and it didn’t work” but may I encourage you to persevere? I believe one reason we easily give up is because we do not see an immediate reward when we are doing the discipline we set out to do. We have to then remember that our reward is waiting for us if we do not give up; we have to remember at that time that God is pleased with us, that He is cheering us up; we have to remember too that we have a great cloud of witness cheering us to carry on. In those moments, remind yourself of the word of God, surround yourself with people that will remind you of the word of God and keep you accountable. Make a habit of journaling your progress or your daily goals or tasks. On the days you are not able to complete your task, do not condemn yourself for your heavenly Father does not condemn you but pick yourself up and carry on the next day because His mercies are new every morning. God has given you everything that you need for life and godliness through your knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3) therefore you are set to win, He Himself has ensured that so do not give up. Would you trust Him and start?