Self Discipline

This morning was a little more of a ruff start than usual. I got up and swam in the ocean this morning and was stung by a manowar. It was between my chest and armpit. It hurt like crazy, but I put hot water on it and vinegar, and it is much better tonight. We went to Sunday school and then church, which were much better this time. Me and Natalie had a nice little day date, and took a nice long walk on the beach. We then went and had an amazing talk by Tony, who was my campus outreach leader at school. He spoke on self discipline, which is defined as training and controlling oneself in ones conduct. The Christian view of self discipline is best defined by self love. Without self love we are self destructive by nature. We live in a here now, self gratifying world, and this is why self discipline is so important. Without self discipline we can't take the actions we need to take to be a consistent good steward. You cannot solely rely on your own self discipline in all aspects of life. Yes, somethings you might be good on, like for me my diet. But other things you cannot do on your own. Self discipline does not replace the Holy Spirit. Read Galations 5:22-23 and 2nd Timothy 1:7. We must daily surrender our selves and our struggles to God, because we need Him and His strength. C.S. Lewis has a great quote that says, "The problem with a living sacrifice is it keeps trying to crawl off the alter." This is why we need the Holy Spirit. As much as we want to do things on our own, we can't. It is just to hard, we are to sinful at heart. The Holy Spirit gives us the conviction, self discipline helps us to see it through. The best example sounds like the biblical answer, but truly it is the only way, look how Jesus did it and pray for it. But be practical, don't be unrealistic. I mean God can do anything and everything, but don't set goals that are to high or too low. Read Luke 16:10 and Proverbs 6:27-28. We are all creatures of habit. The longer you wait to get it, the harder it will be, read songs of Soloman 2:7. This means to set your standards now, yes you, and yes now. For example tithing, if you don't start now when you don't have money or things are tight, it will be just as hard when you have 500,000 and you have to give 50,000 away. When you set standards they shouldn't change. This all starts with self discipline. Some may be better than other and we all have our different struggles. Pray about it, look to the word for encouragement, and lean on the Holy Spirit for help. God bless.

Serving Him,

Daniel