Just talking about spiritual discipline won't get you very far, let alone talking about how much others need it. Describing some friends he had known all his life, Scott Turow wrote: "Many years ago I learned their dirtiest, nastiest secret: that their passion for changing the world came from an inability to change themselves." Hi! Do you talk a lot about things you haven't personally experienced, using it as a smokescreen to cover up your own superficiality? Understand this: developing a spiritual discipline is something that takes a great deal of effort and is almost always done in secret, is humiliating, and not always fun. Let's examine it in parts: Does it require a lot of effort? Absolutely it does. It means being harder on yourself than you'd like to be. It requires regularly checking the way you express yourself, your relationships and life choices, and correcting them when necessary. Doing it in secret? Yes; when you are striving to develop a spiritual discipline, it is wise not to talk too much about what you are doing. Talking is easy; just do it! Is it humiliating? No doubt about it! Some days it's like taking one step forward and two steps back... Spiritual discipline requires "going along for the ride" while others are walking away unwilling to acknowledge it, or making excuses. Isn't it always fun? Developing a life of spiritual discipline is a fulfilling experience, but it is not always fun. Pay attention to what Paul wrote: "...in this way I run, not as though by chance; in this way I fight, not as one who beats the air; but I beat my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having been a herald to others, I myself should be done away with" (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
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