Train Yourself To Be Godly.
“Although a spontaneous personality may cause me to adopt a more flexible schedule, spontaneity isn’t an excuse for me to ignore the importance of discipline.”
I had that excerpt written and pasted on my wall when the year started. I never truly understood what each word in that sentence held till this month.
The excerpt was obtained from the book ‘Disciplines of a Godly Woman' by Barbara Hughes.
When the word ‘discipline' gets mentioned, it seems like a hard word to me ― implying nothing but challenge, rigorous efforts, and duty.
Yet as a young Christian, I've read, heard, and also seen the value of cultivating spiritual disciplines, and I've always longed for intimacy and to be more consistent in my relationship with God amidst the busyness around me.
As a lady who wants to represent her Master, it gets more demanding than ever and sometimes being misunderstood becomes inevitable.
Every day, something new gets introduced and as the world keeps evolving, I am expected to keep adopting and adapting to its newness to avoid being tagged as laid-back. I genuinely can't help but follow through with this fast-paced world.
One minute I'm waking up to what was once abnormal to be accepted as normalcy, the next minute, I am waking up to AI-generated pictures, another minute, I catch myself thinking of ways to have multiple streams of income.
Just as every sector/industry experiences jaw-dropping and incredible transformation, it's the same way diverse perspectives, principles, views, hot takes, and whatnots gets introduced.
Everyone now feels entitled to hold onto their own definition of right, wrong, and acceptable.
It becomes more troubling being in a room full of young adults who supposedly bears the name tag ‘Christians,’ having distinct ideology, values, and beliefs.
It became a back-and-forth battle of what is right, wrong, good, and acceptable for me. I consider the battle of the mind to be the wildest ‘cause it reduces you to not view through your lens alone.
The mind battle — to fit in, to not be the odd one, to not be too-holier-than-all, to not sound spiricoco or religious, to not be judged or too extra. Clearly, the more I fought to blend in, the more I lowered the bar and compromised.
The wisdom I got was that the more I let myself sink deep, I won't handle the weightier matters of my Master if I stuck with people's belief to live.
Here is the culmination of this matter: The world is full of tangible and intangible wisdom and opinions. In fact, everyone at this point is right. Trying to present your right to another person right is like mixing sand with garri and still expecting it to be edible.
The worldview of what God's standard to live fully as a Christian shouldn't be based on head knowledge, logic, sentiments, what everyone is doing or what pastor said.
It should be based on THE WORD OF GOD. What does the Word say about relationships, dressing, family, work ethics, money, etc.?
The more we keep navigating the path of ‘everyone is doing it' the more we sink into not being distinct from the rest.
God wants to tailor and shape us to His plan, but how much discipline can we let Him instill in us?
The Bible should be the only daily manual that guides us to become complete. It is a solid, tested, and trusted view and standard our lives should be built and based on.
It is going to be a battle of the mind, values, flesh, and all, but contend every day not to go below the bar. Even when everything may feel somewhat good and applauded, not everything should be acceptable and practiced.
As my mentor will say, ‘Goodie, subscribe to the insurance policy of the love and fear of God, and God forbid, for it will constrain you.'
1 Timothy 4:7 clearly states, “Train yourself to be godly.”
For the bigger picture and fulfillment of prophecies, we need more disciplined Christians.
