Athletes become great athletes because they train. They practice. They do things over and over again perfecting it as they go along. They are dedicated.

Athletes become top contenders because they practice and train. They engage all of themselves into the process. Their mind is engaged – if it is not, they get injured. Their hearts are engaged – lots of contests are won not by skill or might but by heart. [You’ve seen the Rocky movies.] And lastly, their body is engaged. It has done these maneuvers so many times that to bend and flex, move and stop as required is now second-nature.

Athletes are disciplined.

Christians need to become spiritually disciplined.

We don’t have to look far to see an example of disciplined disciples. There have been many great “giants of the faith” whose work and lifelong evidences demonstrate their discipline. Just look at Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers, A. W. Tozer, Jay Adams, and because I’m reading his book, Donald Whitney. Look in your community at your faithful pastor and other faithful pastors. Look in the Scriptures and read about our Lord and Savior Jesus, and even Paul. Dedicated. Disciplined. And, while we can look at these people and see their efforts for the gospel, the most important place we can look is in the mirror. When you look in there, do you see a disciplined disciple?

Most of us would have to earnestly answer, “no.” Look over the list that you developed yesterday. See, we all have areas where we need more discipline.

But, that’s okay. We have to assess where we are so that we can know exactly how far we are away from where we need to be. Think of it as looking at a map. You know that if you are at point A and your goal is to get to point D, then you will have to go through points B and C. But if you are at point C and are trying to get to point D, then you know that you only need go through the steps to get to point D. Your distance is shorter (in this linear illustration.) Therefore, assessing where you are helps you with direction.

Now, once we know where we are, it’s time to do some training in righteousness. As Christians, we need to “train” and build our spiritual muscles. You can “train” by getting into your Bible. The children at our church are doing Bible drills quoting Scripture. I oft times feel like I need to join them. I don’t recall things from memorization that well – I never have – but something about a young child being able to quote Scripture motivates me – and, well, it actually encourages me! So, it’s time to put in the time with the Bible. Whether your goal is memorization or not, you must become familiar with your Bible. How else are you going to know what God requires out of you – which areas you are to be disciplined in – if you don’t read your Bible for yourself. You cannot always count on someone else to do this for you. So, please make a commitment to be disciplined in reading your Bible every single day – no matter what. Engage your mind, heart and body. This is your first step in discipline.