Recently I’ve been reapplying myself to the practice of discipline, namely in the area of Bible reading.
Traditionally I have the tendency to perform things when I feel like it, and it’s not all wrong, and it’s not always in neglect of the things I need to do. Recently, however, I’ve been encouraged to make myself some disciplines so I can have them in my life with consistency. Reading the Bible, for one, is a spiritual activity that affects my life more than I can even imagine. Investing myself in Bible reading as a discipline has led me to read much more lately than I ever have, and it has awakened in me a hunger and desire for even more.
It stems partly from the “Thrive” class I took at City Bible Church. There Marc Estes encouraged us to pursue the things of the spirit as a discipline, and he mentioned a series of events which leads me to think more about this. He said that thoughts lead to feelings, and feelings lead to actions. If this is true, I also think that actions can fuel our thoughts, which effectively completes the cycle. So if I invest myself in actions, then it causes me to spend more time thinking upon what I invest in, which may in turn affect my feelings, which may actually make me want to.
While most people may wait until they want to do something before doing it, doing something can actually create in us the desire to actually want it.
When it comes to reading my Bible, or praying, or spending focused time alone to speak with God and fellowship with Him, it is very important that I invest myself. If I do not feel up to pursuing these things or if I am not experiencing as great a desire as I need to have, then by pursuing them with actions before I have the desire, I can create that hunger which will enable me to move to the next level of pursuit.
That’s where I want to be.