Hebrews 12:1-17
Dear RTB’ers,
Discipline. Worldly discipline, spiritual discipline. We’ve all been disciplined, somehow, somewhere. Where did you learn discipline? What is your own discipline like today? Your worldly discipline, your spiritual discipline?
I was looking back at my own discipline history. First, my worldly discipline – growing up at home; three years in the Army (especially Basic Training); a dozen years of academic studies; then 30+ years of the structured life of going to work every day. A lot of discipline training in each of those times in my life…
And spiritual discipline… I went to a (spiritual) conference when I was in my mid-30s where the speaker suggested that we commit ourselves to reading the Bible at least five minutes a day. I began doing that and realized that if I read more than five minutes – typically 15 to 20 minutes – that I could read through the entire Bible in one year’s time. So sometime in my late 30s was my first time in reading completely through the Bible. That conference and the discipline that I learned eventually led to our current RTB groups at St. Andrew’s.
John and I can attest to the discipline that is necessary for us to post RTB comments every morning (or occasionally later in the day). No doubt, there is personal spiritual gain for us in doing that, but our other hope in posting daily is that we can encourage the rest of you in your own spiritual discipline. Our hope is that you read the assigned passage every day (morning?) and consider the STS questions (and our posts), ideally even before you begin your daily chores. If you get behind, no problem, just catch up! And come join us this Sunday morning after coffee hour and tell us how RTB is working out for you.
Blessings!
Thanks to you and John for providing this opportunity, RTB for us. Discipline is hard and only really possible through Christ. We can start on our own but sooner or later and for me anyway, repeatedly, I have to rely on God rather than my weak self, to continue.