Americans are always looking for a magic bullet. Whether it is money, health, or spiritual growth. We can spot these all around us if we look, and I know that there was a time when I was a victim of the mentality myself. I was in college studying biology, chemistry, physics and the like.
These were hard courses and like many students, I was having a hard time keeping up in class. In my struggle, I searched for better books on the topics I was studying. I found simple books, more books, and other books. And I kept finding myself in the same situation that I started in: a difficult class and poor understanding. But I caught onto the problem early in my college career. I was lacking discipline.
Discipline has a few good definitions, but here I will focus on a definition of training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character. Discipline is tragically missing today in our daily lives. We have a TGIF mentality, seek pleasure rather than self-improvement, and it does not seem to matter whether a person is a professing Christian or not. I will not focus any more on the personal growth issues in this article, but the lessons apply to that easily. Rather, I am more concerned with the state of personal growth in our Christian walk. We need more discipline in our churches, and we need more personal lives.
As I was teaching kids at summer camps, I would always go to the book of Titus for a few good reasons. The first is, it is small enough that I could encourage the kids to read it and they could easily do so before the week is up. That is encouragement for them that at least one of the 66 books in the Bible has been read. Secondly, I like Titus because of all of the references to teaching young men to live serious and disciplined lives. Lets have a look at a few verses that I would speak about over the week in devotions.
Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. (Titus 2:6-8)
Look at the contrast between the Word of God and the actual actions of young men today. While the Bible says for young men to be sensible, our modern age not only allows, but also promotes young men to live erratic and spontaneous lives. While the Bible commands to demonstrate good deeds, our young men do not have a desire to really help anyone with any thing because it is possible they will miss the fun action of a television program or video game. Dignity and sound speech are rarely numbered among people today, young or otherwise, and the church is not taking a stand to correct them. When these traits happen among the unbelievers around us, we can accept it, but when it occurs in the church and no one seeks to correct the youth, the church, not the teenager is to be culpable for the sin (Ezekiel 3:17-21).
The Apostle Paul realized that we do not start out as Christians following God. He reminds us later in Titus: For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another (3:3). But Paul does not end there. He describes salvation to Titus: But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (3:4-7). Paul continues: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men (3:8).
We are not to stay where we are when we are saved, we are instead to grow through a disciplined life. You need to transform your mind through the washing of God's Word. Romans 12 declares: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (1-2). Do not keep doing the same things. Learn from the Word and place your new lessons into practice in your personal life.
