In a Tuesday night life class (that's what I call bible study), my pastor gave us 12 indicators that let us know we may be living a life without discipline. (Read the intro to this series.) The message wouldn't leave me alone because God has been speaking to me in my personal time with Him about discipline and walking in purpose and pushing past laziness and doing what He says regardless of how I feel or what's going on around me. And He told me to share with you in this blog series. Today we'll talk about the second indicator: Defending Our Wrong Actions.
"I only curse when I'm real mad."
"...but it was just a little lie."
"God knows my heart."
"I don't even do it everyday. Just sometimes."
"God gon' forgive me."
"I just couldn't help myself."
"Well, if she wouldn't-a done it to me, I wouldn't-a done it to her."
Heard any of these? Said any of these, even if only in your heart?
These statements and so many others like them are clear signs that discipline, particularly spiritual discipline, is lacking in us. Show me someone who uses statements like these to defend or attempt to justify their actions, and I'll show you someone who is without the discipline they need to sustain a healthy relationship with the Lord.
Let's examine a few of the examples for a deeper understanding.
I only curse when I'm real mad.
No, you only curse when your flesh (your ways, not God's) dominates your spirit. I remember one of my pastors, years ago, teaching on building spiritual muscles. He gave the example of a man who owned 2 dogs. The owner wanted one dog so he could train it for dog competitions, and he wanted the other just to have as a pet. Because he wanted both of his dogs to live, he of course fed them both, but he wanted them to grow and develop in different ways, so he fed them differently. He fed the potential competition dog more regularly, and he fed it proteins and other foods it would need to bulk up. He was diligent in measuring the dog's food, and he made sure he didn't skip any meals for fear of lessening the dog's chances to win. His pet dog simply ate to survive and ate pretty much what was left after the competition dog's food was rationed out for each meal. It doesn't take a genius to know that the competition dog grew more because it ate more. It was inevitable that the dog with more time and attention given to its meals and nurturing would be the dog to dominate in size, strength and power, because as pastor said with the phrase that has stuck with me all these years, "Whatever we feed the most is what's gon' thrive." No truer words have ever been spoken!
If your spirit was being fed more than your flesh, your spirit would dominate. Your response when you're mad wouldn't be curse words. If your temperament was submitted to the Word of God on a consistent basis, your response would be one that reflected Christ. When we justify our curse words, or any other unwholesome speech (Ephesians 4:29) for that matter, we tell on ourselves. We tell that our spirits are not submitted to the Lord, but that we know they should be.
I just couldn't help myself.
Yes, you could, actually. You always can when it comes to choosing to do what you know is right. Anytime you're given a choice, you can help yourself. Your doing is completely up to you.
For instance, when you know you shouldn't buy the shoes because the Lord is teaching you to manage your money so you can better the lives and livelihood of your family, but you buy them anyway and say, "I just couldn't help myself," you only lie to yourself. You could help yourself because God gave you self-control (discipline) and He gave you a choice. You simply wanted the shoes, and chose not to apply the self-control you were given.
"He kept looking at me with them eyes, and I just couldn't help myself." Yes, you could, actually. When he was looking at you and your eyes met his, you could have turned your eyes right on in the opposite direction and been on about your way, but you chose to look in his eyes and let things proceed from there, and every time you defend or justify your actions by saying you couldn't help yourself, you tell on yourself. You tell that your spirit isn't submitted to the Lord. He gave you self-control (discipline). You just chose not to use it.
Proverbs 25:28 (NIV) says, "Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control (discipline). Cities in bible days were surrounded by high walls. The walls were protection from the enemy's attacks. If the walls were broken down or penetrated in any way, the city and its inhabitants were vulnerable and WIDE OPEN for the enemy. EVERYTHING was at stake!
Are you that city? Are you WIDE OPEN for the enemy's attacks because you don't apply the self-control you were given?
God knows my heart.
You're right. He does. He knows that you want to do what He says, but when you don't, it says to Him that your flesh (your ways, not His) have more say in your life than He does. If His Spirit was dominating your heart, your actions would line up with His ways, but because your flesh dominates your heart, your actions reveal that. There's no way around this truth: Our actions reveal what's in our hearts. So whenever you do whatever it is you do, God DOES know your heart. You show him every time. Every time you defend or justify your actions by saying "God knows my heart," you pretty much spit in the Lord's face and tell him that you know what you should do, but that you're gonna do what you want to do anyway.
Are we getting the picture here? When His Spirit isn't dominating our flesh, His Spirit doesn't win. The flesh does. And when the flesh wins, and we know it shouldn't, we try to defend it and justify why what we did with our flesh was okay, knowing full well that it wasn't. There's a breakdown in our spiritual discipline when we do that, and quite frankly, we don't honor the Lord when we make excuses for why we just don't do what He says. So rather than trying to explain that away too, (It's not that I'm not disciplined, it's just that... OR I try to be disciplined but...), just submit your heart to the Lord and begin giving yourself to him in prayer and in consistent study of His word.
Tomorrow
Life Without Discipline: #3 Our Health Suffers
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