*Turnverein: Heinrich Hamann’s Gymnastic Photographs (ca. 1902)
Practical advice for cultivating discipline in your life.
We applaud others when they sustain new, healthier habits. We praise our co-workers when their continuous dedication to honing their craft earns them a promotion. We admire the person who has habitualized a seemingly perfect morning routine.
We tend to revere discipline when it comes to pursuing vocational, financial, physical, and social successes. But are we as committed to the notion of discipline when it comes to our primary role as a child of God? And, if we aren’t, how big of a problem is it?
The Case for a Disciplined Life
Jesus prayed in solitude. (Luke 5:16)
Jesus studied Scripture so much that he was able to teach others by age 12. (Luke 2:41-47)
We are instructed to pray without ceasing and to meditate on God’s law so that we can follow it. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and Joshua 1:8)
It should be abundantly clear to us that the Christian life is to be a disciplined one. We could fill pages upon pages of Scriptural references that model and endorse this. Of course, prayer, solitude, and Scripture study are not the only spiritual disciplines cited in the Bible. But as I’ve met with Christian leaders and professionals, it’s clear that these can be especially easy to neglect.
Gathering for public worship and hearing the Bible taught through the Sunday message is baked into our weekend routine. But being consistent with our Monday through Friday habits – the ones that are often done in secret - requires significantly more discipline. Your church friends or even a pastor may check in if they don’t see you at Sunday service, but there’s far less accountability when it comes to continuing our acts of devotion to God throughout the week.
It should be enough to know that Jesus both modeled and commanded disciplines such as prayer, solitude, and Scripture study. We should remember that our Creator knows us best. He knows what we need to thrive as He intended. These disciplines He has commanded provide both spiritual and practical value. There is much at stake when we neglect them.
An undisciplined Christian is:
- Less in tune with the guiding of the Holy Spirit, having not invested time in the relationship or listening to Him.
- More vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy, distant from the Biblical reminders that come from time spent in Scripture.
- Less capable of representing Christ well, unable to respond to questions because of a lack of basic Biblical literacy.
- Potentially living in hypocrisy, providing lip service on Sundays with no spiritual substance or fruit Monday through Friday.
It makes me think of a young professional I spoke with years ago. He was on a team made up of both early and late career professionals. He expressed that one of his goals was to “be like Eric.” He meant that he wanted to be as good at his work as Eric was. He wanted to serve clients as well as Eric did. He wanted to be an employee of high character, just like Eric. My advice? “Spend more time with him.” Through getting to know Eric better and observing him up close, this young man would have a better chance of emulating his behaviors and understanding how (and why) he functions the way he does.
As Christians, our goal is to be more like Jesus and to train for godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7) Naturally, this requires that we spend lots of time with him.
But how can we do this?
Let’s look at a few strategies for becoming more disciplined in our walk with God, specifically with the disciplines of prayer, solitude, and Scripture study.
- Minimize Tech Barriers
Many claim that time is the biggest barrier between where they are now and the more spiritually disciplined life they long to lead. This is not a new issue, but we do have more time-wasters at our disposal than ever before. It’s no secret that our modern brains are over-stimulated, and our attention spans are shrinking. We’ve been entertaining ourselves to death with the endless distractions that claw for our attention.
Implementation Ideas:
- Pay attention to why you reach for your phone. If you aren’t reaching for a specific or worthwhile reason like sending a work email or texting a friend to check in, redirect yourself. Instead of opening social media or a mindless game app, open your Bible or devotional app.
- Adjust your phone settings to minimize distractions. Disable unnecessary notifications. Silence calls except those from a few key people in your life. Designate portions of your day as fully “tech free.”
- Use an old school alarm clock so you can keep your phone in the kitchen at night. Keep your Bible at your bedside instead. Pray alone or with your spouse each night instead of scrolling your phone.
- Schedule Focused Time
Most people use some sort of schedule or planning system to organize and direct their lives. You may have an electronic calendar filled with work meetings, a complex planning system, and/or a family calendar on the fridge filled with soccer games and piano practice. We are so good about scheduling and protecting time for so many things. Being disciplined about our walk with God will require no less, and it’s of far greater importance than anything else.
Implementation Ideas:
- If you use an electronic calendar through work, schedule focused time with God. Depending on the nature of your job, this could be a 15-minute prayer break each afternoon, Bible study over lunch, or starting your day praying with a co-worker.
- Create a morning routine for yourself and hold yourself to it until you start to see habits forming. What needs to happen in your morning for your household to thrive? What spiritual disciplines need to be present in that routine? What time do you need to get up to be successful? (And what time do you need to go to bed the night before?)
- Organize a weekly prayer meeting or Bible study with co-workers or friends from church. Block off time for yourself to continue reflecting and praying in solitude about the content after your group time.
- Integrate On-going Practices
While there is value in carving out focused time, the discipline of prayer isn’t intended to be purely relegated to our “quiet time” in the morning or when we pause before a meal to speak with God. Beautiful things happen when we build the practice of praying without ceasing and walking the entirety of our days with God.
Implementation Ideas:
- In those moments where you feel tempted to vent to a co-worker, take it to God instead.
- Lift prayers up during the workday. Pray for specific co-workers or clients before you meet with them. It may help to put a reminder on your phone, set for 5 minutes before certain meetings.
- Allow prayers to be short and more frequent. In addition to your focused prayer time, pray during your commute, as you walk to a meeting, or at your desk.
- Pursue Accountability
Sometimes we need a little nudge from someone else. If you are struggling to stick with a practice or form certain habits, bring another Christian into the process. This could be a mentor, a co-worker, a spouse, or friend.
Implementation Ideas:
- Complete a Bible reading plan with someone else. Check in with one another weekly to discuss what you’ve read and keep one another on track.
- Schedule a quarterly spiritual development retreat with a Christian friend or your spouse. This could be as simple as an afternoon at a favorite coffee shop or as complex as a weekend away. Use the time to reflect on the quarter, pray together, and ensure you are remaining disciplined in your walk with God.
- Simply tell other Christians what you are committed to do. Share it during prayer time with your church small group, asking for prayer as you make changes. When we vocalize a goal out loud, we are more apt to follow through.
You’ve probably heard many of these strategies before. I tried to come up with novel ideas, but I’ve seen that the simplest ideas are the best. We know we should put our phones down, pray more, and spend more time in our Bibles.
At the end of the day, the problem isn’t that we don’t know what to do, but that we aren’t doing it.
Make a commitment right now, as you read this. Prayerfully identify one or two strategies to put into practice this week. In truth, being disciplined in your walk with God is far more critical than sticking to a workout, an eating plan, or a new vocational skill. It’s worth putting in the work to know your Father more intimately and walk life with Him more closely.
Miranda Carls is an author, speaker, and multi-certified people and organizational development coach and consultant. She has worked with start-ups, non-profits, churches, mid-size organizations, and Fortune 500 companies. After spending some time managing the training and professional development functions of a large non-profit, Miranda spent 8 years at a successful learning strategy firm. She most recently served as leader of the organization's learning design function before leaving to pursue the work she is doing now.
While Miranda serves a wide variety of clients and organizations, she especially enjoys writing and teaching on topics related to the integration of faith and work. Her first book, The Word at Work (2022) unpacks ten biblical principles for Christian professionals. Her writing has been featured through The Gospel Coalition, Biblical Leadership, and others. On her podcast, she interviews Christian business leaders and thought leaders within the faith and work movement.
You can learn more about Miranda and VERTICAL on her website: https://www.mirandacarls.com/
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