Living The Disciplined Life

You... know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith,patience, love, endurance.
2 Timothy 3:10

Living the disciplined life does three things for you:

(1) It strengthens your will! Discipline doesn't make you rigid, it makes you resilient. It provides you with shock absorbers for the potholes of life. And there will be lots of them. It enlarges your capacity to summon up courage when life gets tough. Look at Shadrach,Meshach and Abednego who refused to bow to a pagan king's idol even when threatened with a fiery furnace: "The God we serve is able to save us from it... But even if He does not... we will not serve your gods"(Daniel 3:17-18 ). All of their lives these guys had toughened themselves through discipline, in order to face such a supreme moment of test. And you'll face that moment too!
(2) It brings your gifts to their highest level of effectiveness. "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" asks the tourist of a New Yorker. Answer: "You practice, man, you practice."David's first victory wasn't over Goliath. His years of practice as a shepherd defending his sheep against wolves, a lion and a bear, had prepared him for this moment. It had given him the spirit and the skill needed to take on the Philistine champion.
(3) It inspires others. Paul writes to Timothy, "You... know all about my teaching, my way of life [living it is harder than teaching it], my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings" (2 Timothy 3:10 ). Paul's greatest gift to Timothy was the example of a disciplined life. Now Timothy had something to copy - a straight edge of excellent living. And there's no better gift!