Have you had your Joy Juice
today? Each one of us needs the
discipline to drink in the joy of the Lord on a continual basis!
In
1 Timothy 4:7, Paul said to his friend, Timothy: “Discipline yourself for the
purpose of godliness.” Keep
in mind that Paul wanted to help mold Timothy into the best pastor, the best
Christian servant, the best man of God that he could be. He loved Timothy as a son and knew that he
would be tempted in many ways. Timothy was
the pastor of the church in Ephesus.
That was the “Las Vegas” of his day—a busy, rich, sensual city. He would have many challenges to face.
In this
passage, Paul was teaching and encouraging Timothy to discipline himself so that
he could fulfill God’s purpose for his life.
As with any successful athlete, we must condition ourselves. Charles
Swindoll writes that “conditioning involves repetitive training
exercises so that the athlete’s mind and the appropriate muscle groups learn to
work together reflexively and automatically.
Conditioning combines endurance and skill. It turns game-winning
abilities into habits.
No one can condition someone else.
An athlete can seek out a coach to help him with conditioning but he
cannot hire someone to do the work for him."
In other words, we must do as Paul said in verse 7:
Discipline…condition….ourselves. Did you
know that you can condition yourself to have JOY in the Lord?
Let’s practice joy; condition our minds and
hearts to consistently exercise joy in every step we take.
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