Discipleship Ministries is the name of the division of the IPHC that deals with the areas discipleship and Christian Spiritual formation.  One aspect of discipleship that many times we don't like to dwell on, is the area of discipline. 

When I say discipline, I am not speaking of the definition which focuses on correction, punishment, or rebuke.  Rather, I am thinking of discipline in the sense of one of Webster's definitions:  "training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character." (taken from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline)

Much of the Christian life happens in the mundane.  I believe and have experienced miracles in my own life, as well as in the lives of others.  However, the majority of our Christian spiritual formation occurs through the normal, regular routines of our days.  It is here, in these uneventful moments, that our discipleship has the best opportunity to be nurtured and to grow.  The struggle for many of us, me included, is that there is no fanfare in the moments of the mundane.  No one sees what is happening.  Those moments do not carry with them the feelings of excitement and thrill of big events or special occasions.  So many times, these moments are viewed with ambivalence...a genuine love/hate relationship.

I am a BIG sports fan.  I enjoy playing sports, watching sports, and talking about sports.  I enjoy the games and the competition.  Yet, when I am watching a pro football game, (Atlanta Falcons, by the way!!), I am only seeing the end result and celebration of the mundane.  I haven't seen the hours upon hours of film study, preparation, and physical training that has been going on throughout the week.  I am only there for the party.  However, each of the players, coaches, and staff have been laboring, training, DISCIPLINING themselves getting ready for the game.  Each player has committed to discipline themselves to prepare for the day when it is all on the line.  No one watches the weight room, the film room, the memorization of the playbook.  It is not exciting.  Yet, it is in the moments of mundane discipline that champions are formed.

How about us?  What do we do in the moments of the mundane?  True Christian Discipleship is cultivated through Discipline during the daily grind.  DISCIPLINE...It's not really an ugly word, if you are committed to it personally. It is just hard to live out. 

I want to live by the standard that the Lord whispered into my spirit a few years back, "You must become what you want to see in others." 

So...I will be updating in the coming weeks my outward expression of my inward discipline (it really is a spiritual exercise for me, but that is another post).  I have been working to lose some weight and get into shape recently, and I am in training for a half-marathon.  It is coming up in a few weeks.  No one sees the training, sweat, or the avoidance of sweets (especially Reese's!!! ), but hopefully I will post pictures of the big party...the actual race.

Stay tuned...I am trying to practice Discipline-ship.  Let's practice together!!

Happy Labor Day everyone!  This is a day that is set aside to honor the workers and work ethic that have been the backbone of the American economy and growth of our country.  It is a day to honor something that some consider a bad four-letter word...W-O-R-K.  In fact, some will avoid the very thought of work at all costs.

However, work is not something to be dreaded, feared, or avoided.  No, work and the results of our work should be embraced.  Why?  It is pleasing to the Lord.  Work is in His nature.  Genesis 2:1-2 tells us, "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done." (NKJV, italics mine)  God displayed in creation the value and importance He places upon work.

We also received our cultural mandate from God in Genesis 1:28, "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (NKJV)  Mankind, male and female, were given the instruction, even command, to subdue and take dominion.  This involves industriousness...WORK.  It includes forming, building and shaping a culture.  As a result, our work, in its simplest and purest sense, is obedience and worship unto God.  The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men."

So today, whatever your occupation; when you work, you are worshipping the Lord.  Let us celebrate our work today as truly a labor unto the Lord!  He is worthy of our worship!  He is worthy of our WORK!  Blue collar, white collar, even working to get the ring out of your collar...Jesus is worthy of our best work in worship!

Have a Great Labor Day everyone!!