Sure Steps to Self-Discipline
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
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Going straight to the Cross
Discipline, grandpa said, is keeping the plow
between the rows.
Sure Steps to Self-Discipline
by Randal Matheny
Discipline can be learned, even when our parents
didn't teach and discipline us. Consider that God
brings discipline into our lives, if we are
willing to learn from the experiences he brings to
us (see Hebrews 12).
Here are some principles to encourage our
discipline, along with some book references to
whet our reading appetite.
1. See loss as gain. Judith Viorst wrote Necessary
Losses, and though she lacks a biblical basis and
fails to discover the true gains of the concept of
loss, she gets started on the right track. The
Bible has the best rule here: what you surrender
to the Lord will be credited to your account.
Start with losing your own life (Matthew 16:24-
26). I have Evelyn Christenson's Gaining Through
Losing on my desk right now; it's next on my
reading list.
2. Have a plan. Establish the final goal, where
you want to arrive. And trace out the steps
necessary to reach it. See yourself down the road,
five, ten, twenty years from now. Visualize
yourself as being, living, and enjoying the New
You. Figure out how to get there. For practical
suggestions, check out books like Reader's
Digest's Organize Yourself.
3. Find a model and be a monkey. Imitate those who
are doing successfully what you want to do. This
is one of Anthony Robbins's big suggestions in
Awaken the Giant Within. But definitely not
original with him. The Bible present Jesus as the
perfect model (see, for example, Philippians 2 and
1 Peter 3), and a host of other good people as
well. Paul often offers himself as worthy of
imitation. Check out these few words:
"Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also
have become as you are" (Galatians 4:12, NRSV).
"Keep on doing the things that you have learned
and received and heard and seen in me, and the God
of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9).
"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1
Corinthians 11:1).
4. Write it down. Get a notebook and jot down
those dreams, goals, objectives, and positive
steps. Also identify and put to the pen those
limiting falsehoods that hold you back. Telling
Yourself the Truth is one of the great principles
of changing your life, say authors William Backus
and Marie Chapian. And the writing part is a big
principle of David Burns's Feeling Good: The New
Mood Therapy.
5. Keep it simple, stupid. I've been disappointed
with most of his books, but his best one was one
of the least popular (wonder why?): Simplicity, by
Richard Foster. Complicated plans run greater
chance of failure. Military strategists know the
simple plan brings success.
6. Start today. "Today is the day of salvation."
No time like the present, don't we say? Actually,
there is no time BUT the present. In his second
book, The Feeling Good Handbook, Dr. Burns works
on helping to overcome procrastination.
Discipline is the key to transforming our lives.
And not only ours, but of others around us as
well. This fruit of the Spirit is produced by the
Lord and grows in those of us who cooperate as he
works in our lives.