self-discipline can be your greatest victory
…or your greatest defeat.
This is the fourth in a four part series about some biblical philosophy. You don’t have to read these in order, but it may be helpful if you did. :
part 1_fear
part 2_power
part 3_love
This is part four self-discipline. Let’s pick up where we left off on 2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” // 2 Timothy 1:7
self-discipline // σωφρονισμός // sophronismos
prudence – To point out which course of action you should take, to govern and discipline yourself using reason.
Ancient philosophers and Christian theologians like Augustine and Aquinas considered self-discipline – or sophronismos – as the mother of virtues.
Without sophronismos,
bravery becomes recklessness;
mercy sinks into weakness,
freedom becomes criticism,
humility shapes into arrogance,
selflessness into corruption,
Sophronismos represent our ability to access wisdom. It gives us the power to choose between good and best, not just between bad and good. Or in the case of 2 Timothy 1:7, it gives us the ability to consistently operate in power and love. Without self-discipline, we may have seasons of power, but not a lifetime. And we may be loving, but love won’t be our character.
“Any one can get angry — that is easy — or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy.” // Aristotle
why is self discipline so important?
Our lives are not vacations. They’re not built in big sweeping moments. We may realize this intellectually, but we don’t often behave as if we understand it. Our lives are built every moment of every day.
Our lives are how we speak to those closest to us in the morning before work or school. These are small moments. 10-15 minutes a day.
Our lives are the way we interact and treat our staff, coworkers and those closest to us. This is actually many times the largest part of our day. But our interactions and intentionality can be considered even less.
When we get home from our daily responsibilities, our lives become what we say to each other at the dinner table or until we go to sleep. 1-2 hours a day
The little things are not little things.
When you take care of the little things, the big things take care of themselves.” // Keith Craft
“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” // Napoleon Hill
In ancient China, there was a form of torture called Lingchi, or death by 1000 cuts. That’s the picture you see at the top of this post.
The term lingchi is translated as “slow process”
An executioner would tie you to a stake and begin by making small cuts on your legs, then cutting your arms with progressively larger cuts until they got to your chest. they would then begin amputating your ears, nose, tongue, fingers and limbs in larger parts, finally would stab you in the heart as the final cut.
There were records of up to 3,000 cuts in different executions and this process was said to take up to 3 days to complete.
The beginning of the end
The slow death of our relationships starts with little cuts. Glances, attitudes, ignoring things, being unintentional. a lack of discipline. Maybe we’re allowing things to offend us or hurt us. Maybe we’re ignorant and we don’t realize what we are doing that is hurting us. or how we are taking things wrong.
The end of the beginning
Then we get to bigger cuts. We intentionally stop doing things we know we should do. We neglect our relationships, we don’t control our emotions, we leave our spouse because they don’t love us the right way, we quit our jobs because “they don’t value us.” we don’t work out because we’re too tired. We stop serving, stop putting God first, stop hanging around people that challenge us to be better. We decide that the price for discipline in spirit, soul or body is not that important because we’re not dying, yet.
The end that we never saw coming
If we don’t deal with the small and medium size cuts, we start to feel a lot of pain. Maybe a lack of physical discipline leaves us with health and mobility issues. Maybe a lack of emotional discipline has caused us to lose important and valuable relationships. Maybe a lack of mental discipline has left us not moving forward financially. Maybe a lack of spiritual discipline has left us feeling like we have no meaning and purpose.
How can we avoid death by 1000 cuts?
“Whatever you become aware of, you can care about. Whatever you care about, you have the power to do something about.” // Keith Craft
There’s 3 simple questions we can ask to become disciplined in any area of our life.
What do you need to become aware of?
What do you need to care more about?
What “something” do you need to do?
Six months ago, I became aware of something. Covid had been good to me. I enjoyed two full years without working out consistently. Now, I’d been aware of that for a while, but what changed? I started to care too? I am entering my mid-30’s and long term health is not guaranteed. So what “something” did I do? I didn’t do a crash diet, or get on a 60 day plan. Those are good, but they aren’t what I needed.
I needed discipline, not a grand gesture. So I committed myself to a growth process. Six months later, my entire life approach has shifted because of my discipline, and I have healthier rhythms than ever.
God wants to help us, he has given us the spirit of discipline. But he’s not going to do the work for us. Discipline is our choice, and our price to pay for greatness. If you want your life, marriage, health, emotions or spirit to be better, get disciplined and watch what happens.