Excerpted from The Disciplined Life by Richard Shelley Taylor – (1962).
The Bible says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10). Days of adversity are bound to come. The weakling will faint by self-induced illness, by blaming others, by resigning, by displays of “nerves” – almost any method which presents the possibility of escape. Only by consistent disciplined living can that strength of character be developed which can face adversities without fainting.
The flood of moral looseness which, in this generation, has so blighted our youth and undermined our homes is in my opinion directly related to the self-indulgence of the age. And the church has not escaped. The easy style of living and spending of these years of plenty has seeped into Christian circles too, even into our personages. As a result we have a lot of flabby saints and playboy preachers. We have given lip service to the altar of the Lord but in practice we have bowed at the shrine of the swank.
We have been mesmerized by materialism ourselves even while protesting against it in others. We have been thrown off balance by the prevailing false standards of value. The remedy is not poverty and economic depression, but discipline. The alarming tide of moral casualties of recent years in both pulpit and pew is without question the result of that inner softness born of undisciplined, self-indulgent living.
Words of Grace for Strength
In our efforts to teach biblical prophecy in these last days, we are continually surprised at the things that we find which have been written over the course of the past 100 to 150 years, concerning the spiritual state of mankind. And the very fact that much of it could very well have been written today. Maybe we should not be so surprised; the wisdom and truth of the Bible is timeless, those who write of it or preach such biblical truth may well seem to speak timeless wisdom. Such is the case with Richard S. Taylor’s little book, The Disciplined Life. While our excerpt is from the Foreword of the book, the body of the writing contains an excellent treatise on developing a disciplined life and we highly recommend it.
Today it seems that discipline is little practiced in the self-indulgent, superficial culture we find ourselves living in, and in fact personal responsibility and accountability are nearly nonexistent. Those who seek to live in such a way are often ridiculed or despised. However, as Christians, discipline should be an inseparable characteristic of who we are. As Christians we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Disciple and discipline are formed from the same root word, therefore as disciples we should be living disciplined lives. As disciples we should be troubled, convicted by the Holy Spirit if we do not.
Personal spiritual discipline is developed by habitual practice of biblical disciplines and principles. Some of these disciplines are: Personal Bible study, corporate Bible study (i.e. with your church family), having an active and fervent prayer life, developing your spiritual gifts, living an evangelistic lifestyle, demonstrating worship, praise and thanksgiving. Disciplines that are grounded in the wisdom and truth of the Bible, not in our personal feelings or need for self-actualization. In other words, to develop a disciplined Christian life we need to allow God to teach us and discipline us through His written and spoken Word.
Developing spiritual disciplines in one’s life is an expression of a desire to serve God. It should be the desire of every Christian, so that we might become all that God plans and desires for us to be. It is the conscious act of placing our will under His will, allowing Him complete control of our lives so that we can say as the apostle Paul did, “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21a).
As Paul encouraged the Christians in Rome; “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2), we also need to be reminded to live as Christian nonconformists in the world today. For how can we conform to a world that defies the living and Holy God, turning further from Him every day?
Christ’s return for His Church is imminent; yet as His disciples we may still face persecution before we are raptured out of this world. Develop spiritual discipline in your life and in so doing you will be prepared until He comes. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Rapture, the Tribulation, and then Judgment. All of this because…
Jesus is Coming Soon!
Even So Come.
Dr. Tuck Whitaker and Andy Coticchio
Rafter Cross Ministries
Jesusplus0@gmail.com