It is often said that a spiritual life is as great as one’s ability to control his raging desires.
Desires are like a raging wild horse that must be tamed if we must continue on the path of character development which is a necessity for spiritual growth.
The Bible recognizes the vital importance of this quality and therefore admonishes us to add the quality of self-control to all that we do:
“to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness..” (2 Peter 1:6).
To grow spiritually we must be intentional and ready to tame those desires that are common to us- our emotions, which is the seat of anger and selfish motives, our tongue which houses caustic words, our appetite and all the wrong things that motivate us.
In short without discipline, we cannot be the very best God has ordained us to be. Roy Smith rightly sums it up saying discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.
Of course we can recount a thousand talents that will all know who perished in the valley of indiscipline not able to fulfill their glorious destiny.
In the Bible we see how certain men allowed their wild desire to run out of control and with a great cost to their loss. Cain allowed anger and jealousy to get the better of him leading to the murder of his own brother Abel therefore setting the stage for a divine curse not only on his own life but on the earth as well.
Our lack of discipline will not only cost us certain things but will also often cost your associates as well. When Cain spilled his brother’s blood, the earth became cursed as soon as the blood hit the ground.( Gen. 4:12).
Esau’s lack of control of his appetite led to the loss of his birthright to Jacob and leading to the conflict that ensued between their descendant nations because of Jacob’s deception of their aged and blind father, Isaac, in order to receive Esau’s birthright and blessing from Isaac. (Genesis 25:23).
This often cited story continues to define every situation that has made men to exchange something of great, importance or value for some cheap gain that proves to be of little, or no value after all, but which appeared to be attractive or valuable on first reckoning.
Ultimately, this is what an uncontrollable passion does to us. It blinds us into seeing the importance of what we stand to lose by placing our focus on immediate gains of comparable little value.
Essentially, the devil would continue to use deception of immediate gain to take from men what he has no right or power to steal from them.
If the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) we must be smart to know that his ultimate tool to succeed in this endeavor is his power of deception.
More importantly, we must understand that his deception cannot succeed without the cooperation of our desires- this is where discipline comes to play.
Christ who is our ultimate example in discipline was so perfect in all his ways that he was able to pass the devil’s inquisition on more than one occasion in his life time and he was bold enough to declare without equivocation: “ for The Prince of the world is coming and he has nothing to use against me.” (John 14:30).
What are those things you are still struggling with? Have you considered the cost it will place on the things that truly define your essential value which is your destiny? Have you stopped to compare what you are wrongfully gaining now against the loss of eternity?
Have you considered what could have happened to Cain and Abel if they had summoned enough disciplined to say No to their raging desires?
As we you think deeply on all these things may the Holy Spirit convict us and give us the power to choose right.
Reading Genesis 25: 29-34; Hebrews 12:16-17
