The Secret to Discipline 2.17.2022

    This week’s post will continue the theme we have been following throughout the month of February. Everyone who is called to preach the Gospel is called to a challenging life. While the calling may be unique a professionally challenging life is not. Many of us watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday. Professional football is challenging. Joe Burrow likely needed some quality time in an ice-tub after being sacked 7 times. Odell Beckham Jr suffered what appeared to be a non-contact knee injury which is kind of ironic in a game where hitting and getting hit is a part of the risk taken. 

    So preaching and professional football are both challenging though the challenges are different. Other professions share mental and emotional risks of ministry though they are not spiritually motivated. An attorney must master an arcane body of literature and apply it to a unique situation, convincing a possibly skeptical audience (the jury) that their client is either guilty or not guilty, depending on whether they are prosecuting or defending. Doctors must continue to read an exploding body of literature to remain conversant with emerging diagnostic and therapeutic methodologies. It is tax season. Accountants are reviewing their understanding of the tax code and investing energy in mastering any new information relevant to their clients. In another interesting development from the athletic arena we saw, just this weekend, Olympic athletes were bewildered, and events were postponed in the Winter Olympics because it snowed! Some challenges are mysterious, others obvious. 

    Any vocation, any task, any craft, any calling, if it is to be done with professional excellence requires discipline. Discipline in preparation and discipline in execution. None of the secrets to a fulfilling ministry that we are considering this month are much of a secret. They are not mysterious. They do not come from luck, and they are replicable. Longevity comes from a commitment to excellence over the long term. Athletes prosper in their prime and then retire before they get hurt or their performance falters. There is a point at which an ever-increasing body of experience cannot overcome the inertia of being unable to physically execute. This need not happen in the preaching ministry. So long as you work to stay fresh and engaged with the culture you will be able to find something to say and an effective way to say it. 

    Creativity works much the same way. As we grow older in ministry, we find that some tasks which took many hours in our twenties are accomplished in well-invested and properly planned minutes. Growth, wisdom, and experience nurture the creative process because we have an ever-expanding menu of items for comparison and illustration as well as incorporating new methodologies without becoming overly dependent upon them. 

    The key to these processes is discipline. Discipline provides the space needed for growth. Discipline anchors us to the fundamentals, the basics of our craft allowing us to safely discover new ways and means to proclaim the gospel. Experimentation without discipline can become unfocused flailing. It is the discipline of preaching Sunday by Sunday, message by message, week after week, that keeps us focused on the end product and the desired outcome of informed disciples.