Those two words have been swirling around my head for the past week since hearing them in last week's message. Jerry Bridges has a whole chapter on it in his book "Disciplines of Grace"...a book that I have not read but am looking forward to tracking down a copy of it and diving in!
Okay back to those two words...dependent discipline. Best summed up in a great memory verse, Colossians 1:29 "For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works in me." In that verse hangs the balance of the Christian life...living a life of discipline (check out Donald Whitney's book, "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christan Life") while living it completely dependent on the Lord. As Paul says in Acts 17:28 "In Him we live and move and have our being" and Jesus says in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing".
Those two words, ones that were easy to memorize have become very big in my thoughts, meditations and prayers. And they apply to every area of my life! My daily routine requires both. The tone of my home rests on those words and my relationships with my family and others bears the weight of how well (or not well) I am living "dependent discipline".
In the craziness of the last couple of months, I am so thankful for a return to "normalcy". ...to the structure and routine that helped make everything run so much smoother. I have implemented some new things into our routine and structure and kept a lot of the old...but it feels great to get into a rhythm! Meal plans have been made and the needed groceries bought for those meals, a cleaning routine has been established, homeschooling material has been sorted and is in order for a new month, I have actually made bread and cookies this past week (I love to bake!)...our "daily disciplines" are all in "order".
....And often, that is exactly where I stop...having figured it all out, planned as much as possible, crossed all the "t's" and dotted all the "i's". My heart swells and I feel just great about myself! Then, I wake up in the morning to someone peeing the bed, to children who all need help with their schoolwork at the same time and we end up getting 1 out of the 4 subjects of work completed. Or, I go to make dinner only to find I am missing a key ingredient in spite of all my careful planning and I have to lug all 6 kids to the store or come up with a backup plan that usually means way more work for me. Should I keep going?:) My "disciplined day" falls apart and, with it, my attitude!
Problem is, I am often great with the discipline...but forget that all discipline must have one common thread...it must be FULLY dependent on Jesus Christ! I must live every breath, every moment, in recognition of my weakness and God's power that is perfected in weakness....my inability and God's perfect capability...my flawed ways and thoughts and God's perfect ways and thoughts that are so much higher than mine...the plans in my heart and the purposes of God that WILL prevail!!! Discipline alone does not bring glory to my Heavenly Father unless it is dependent on Him!
That truth is truly freeing! My days rarely go as I plan but, when my heart is dependent on the Lord, my joy stays! When my eyes are fixed on Him, though I keep "toiling" I have sweet hope knowing that it is HIS energy, His power that keeps me pressing on and that He will be faithful to complete the work that He has begun in my life (Phil. 1:6)! His power raised His Son, Jesus Christ, from the dead....and that same power is at work in my life! How often I have opted for the discipline but not the dependence...toiling in my own strength when I have resurrection power living in me!!!
They are just two little words..."dependent discipline"...but they change everything!
Comments
I remind myself all the time: Phil. 2:12,13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
I cooperate - hopefully! - but He supplies the power and the ability. Thank goodness, right?