Thought Quotient

As we see the amazing athletes perform during the Olympics, we can’t help but think about the countless hours they must have spent in the gym training to be able to do what they do - to perform at a high level - to handle the situation, the challenges, and the pressure.

The same goes for our spiritual life. We often want to see the results in our life, but we don’t want to put in the time and discipline to get there.

I’m guilty of that just as much as anyone. Check out what Chuck Swindoll had to say on this topic:

Paul chose carefully when he selected the Greek term gumnazo, where we get our word gymnasium. In coaching Timothy, his younger colleague in the ministry, Paul said, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). Paul had in mind an athlete preparing for the final day of competition. I would prefer to translate it “Condition yourself,” which raises two points.

First, conditioning involves repetitive training exercises so that the athlete’s mind and the appropriate muscle groups learn to work together reflexively and automatically. Conditioning combines endurance and skill. Conditioning turns game-winning abilities into habits.

Second, conditioning is something we must do for ourselves. An athlete can seek out a coach to help him with conditioning, but he cannot hire someone to exercise for him. Condition yourself. Check the Internet, look through the Yellow Pages. If you ever find “Lease-a-Dieter” or “Rent-a-Runner,” let me know. I want that number!

Notice also that Paul had a goal in mind. Runners condition themselves by running. Weight lifters condition themselves by lifting weights. Each trains for a specific skill to compete in a specific event. Paul’s event is godliness. “Condition yourself toward godliness.”
A godly person is one who ceases to be self-centered in order to become God-centered. Christ became a man and, as a result of His earthly ministry, we see how God intended for humans to behave. Jesus is our unblemished example of godliness.
Our goal as Christians is to become like Christ.
So why exercise spiritual disciplines? To become intimately acquainted with Jesus Christ. They are simply a means by which you come to know Him experientially. By imitating Him, by sharing His experiences, by living a sacrificial life as He lived it, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape you by the disciplines from the inside out, you will become more like Him.

Godliness won’t just happen by hanging around a church or thinking lofty thoughts three or four times a day or memorizing a few verses of Scripture. It will take more—much more. Disciplining ourselves will require the same kind of focused thinking and living that our Master modelled during His brief life on earth.

Everything starts in the gymnasium of the soul. Since this is true, let’s commit ourselves to intimacy, simplicity, silence and solitude, surrender, prayer, humility, self-control, and sacrifice.

- Chuck Swindoll, Insight For Living ministries