The Throws of Battle (part 2, finally)...

Well my friends, its been a long time since my last blog, in fact, much too long. So I’m sorry to be so far behind, but c’est la vie.

In my last post, I wanted to write something that would put you into my head during a regular martial arts training session. That’s even me in the picture. But what in the world would that have to do with anything of any importance? What kind of implications could a short-story about a sparring match have in the grand scheme of things? Well my friends, if you name the name of Christ, then it has oh so much to do with our daily lives.

Let’s look at some various scriptures that really get me going… because when it comes right down to it, the Bible is covered from front to back with this sort of thing. But what sort of thing, pray tell, are we talking about…

Well, what I recounted in my little story there was a fairly typical (albeit slightly embellished) account of a sparring session between two black belts. The key to it is that at the end, the two stop from seriously hurting each other… and will probably go out afterwards and get some wings or pizza or whatever and relive their most recent foray. But the purpose of our scrimmages is to prepare ourselves for an altercation in the streets. In real life there’s no stopping, no rules, only a winner and a loser. And we don’t want to be the one on the losing side. So we beat our bodies, training our minds to endure all sorts of pain and to ignore it until we’re out of danger’s way. (Trust me though, after we’re out of harms way, the pain comes rushing back and we hurt just as bad as anyone else)

"Ok Jeff, but what's the thing you're trying to get at?" I'm glad you asked:

Self-Discipline in a Christian’s spiritual life: I would have never made it to the rank of a 3^rd degree black belt without some self-discipline. No one likes to hold a sitting stance (aka horse stance) for 10 minutes straight, but it helps to teach you to endure great amounts of pain and discomfort when your legs begin to ache and quiver and you feel like you won’t be able to make it another second but you push through anyway. (Try it at home... spread your feet out to the right and left side of your body about twice as wide as your shoulders with all ten toes pointed forward and sit your butt down to where your legs are at roughly an 80 degree bend with your back perfectly straight. Now time yourself and see how far you get.)

So let’s take a gander (now that’s a great southern word right there) at those verses shall we?...

Ezra 7:10 “Now Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” – Ezra had made it his life’s focus to study the law of God AND TO PRACTICE IT. Listen, I can sit and memorize as many scripture verses as I can possibly cram into my brain, but if I’m not practicing them…. well that doesn’t do me a dang bit of good, now does it?

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” – Hey fellas, are you struggling with pornography (Yeah, I said the “p” word. I ain’t scared… neither was Paul; see 1 Thess 4:3-5; 1 Cor 6:18-20; Rom 13:13)? Ladies, are you a malicious gossip (1 Tim 3:11; Titus 2:3)? These are physical problems that we must confront and beat our body into submission so that we not only continue to deny our flesh, but we begin to walk in the Spirit. And when that happens, we don’t fulfill the sinful desires of our flesh. (Gal 5:16)

Colossians 2:5 “For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.” – Discipline goes hand in hand with the stability of our faith. Ask any athlete what happens when you get out of your normal training routine? You get weak, and your fundamentals get shaky. And what happens when your fundamentals get shaky…. very bad things. You often times lose.

1 Tim 4:7-8 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” – What’s the purpose of our discipline? The purpose of godliness, which in turn glorifies the Lord more than anything else we can do. (this, btw, is the very reason for our existence)

2 Tim 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” – Ok, check it out. If God has given us the spirit of discipline, guess what… That means that we can actually do it! Could you imagine if God had just said, “Ok, live a disciplined lifestyle Ready, GO!” Well then, I don’t think that many people, if any, could really do it. But here’s the deal… because he’s given us the spirit of discipline, the same spirit that allowed Jesus to endure the cross, we CAN have our daily quiet times (preaching to myself on that one there folks), we CAN praise him in the middle of the crappiest moments of our lives, we CAN run the race marked out for us. {I freaking love 1^st & 2^nd Timothy}

There’s so much more that could be pulled from this analogy, but I want you to divide the scriptures for yourselves. See how the Lord is applying this to your own life. Take on the mindset of Ezra and make it your purpose and mission to study the Word of God and practice it. That my friend is stout.

I’ll leave you with this, every believer can find themselves in one of two categories.

(1) Someone who's going through a struggle in their life…

(2) Someone who has come out of a struggle and is on their way to another one.

Number 2 seems like a pretty bleak outlook, but it really isn’t. Struggles in life are not bad things. In fact, they are most often times good things. When does your faith grow the most? At the mountain top where there’s nothing opposing you? Or is it when you are clawing and scraping up the side of that mountain and the rocks are seemingly falling from the sky on top of you? You really learn to trust and rely on that rope of yours that’s anchoring you to the face of the rock you’re climbing. That rope, that lifeline, that’s your Lord making sure that you are secure on your ascent up the rocky crag of life. And when you look back at the past walls that you’ve scaled, you realize that they seem to get steeper and harder, but that the one inside of you, the Holy Spirit, is constantly strengthening you more and more. And guess what, your muscles are getting stronger, and those seemingly insurmountable problems that you thought would end your life seem like child’s play now.

Run your race in such a way as to win it, and don’t you dare step into the ring of life not ready to knock out whatever comes your way. You’ve got the best team in your corner that anyone could ever ask for: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. If things get out of hand, they’ll take care of it. (Ps 35; Deut 32:39-43).

-Jeff