Training the Undisciplined Soul

This post comes from a teaching series we started at BCC "Training the Undisciplined Soul".

If you were 7 years old during the Middle Ages your greatest aspiration would likely have been to become a knight for a noble lord and lady. It was one of the highest positions a young boy could aspire toward. To become a knight, however, involved a long process of disciplined training. Here’s a snapshot of what it took;

“Their training is long and careful…At the age of seven his knightly education begins. Usually the boy is sent away from home to the castle of his father's lord, or some famous knight, there to be brought up and trained for knighthood. From the age of seven till he reaches the age of fourteen, the boy is called a page or "varlet," which means "little vassal." There he waits upon the lord and lady of the castle. He serves them at table, and he attends to them when they ride forth to the chase. From them he learns lessons of honor and bravery, of love and chivalry. Above all, he learns how to ride and handle a horse. When the young noble has become a well-grown lad of fourteen or fifteen, he is made a "squire." Now it is his duty to look after his lord's horses and arms. The horses must be carefully groomed every morning, and the squire must see that their shoes are all right. He must also see that his lord's arms and armor are kept bright and free from rust. When the lord goes forth to war, his squire accompanies him, riding on a big strong horse, and carrying his lord's shield and lance. When the lord goes into battle, his squire must stay near, leading a spare steed and ready to hand his master fresh weapons at any moment… After several years of this service, the squire may himself be allowed to use weapons and fight at his lord's side; and sometimes he may even be allowed to ride forth alone in search of adventures…In this manner the squire learns the business of a knight, which is fighting…In this way the squire spends his days until he reaches the age of twenty or twenty-one. He has now proved both his courage and his skill, and at last his lord says that he has "earned his spurs." So the squire is to be made a knight; and this is the occasion for great festivities." (The Story of the Middle Ages: Chapter 13, Life of the Castle)

The induction festivities for knight-hood were something else altogether, but to become a knight, as you just read, requires years and years of focused and intentional discipline. Knights undergo a prolonged period of training where the end product is not just a man who can wield a sword and ride a horse, but a man also who in his very character is honorable and self-controlled and can be trusted to give his life for others.

We also have positions of high esteem today which require years and years of discipline to attain: Professional Athlete, Doctor, CEO, Navy Seal, etc. If we were to take all of these honored positions, including the position of Knight, and chart them on a bar graph of “Discipline Required To Attain” (see below), we would find that however high the bar of discipline rises for any single one of those positions, none of them would ever chart as high as the discipline required to become like Jesus our Lord.

Jesus holds the greatest position of influence in the world. There is no higher goal which mankind can climb towards than to become like Jesus Christ. Jesus is the face of perfection. He is the image of God. He is the One in whom all things in heaven and earth hold together and by whom they all derive their names (see Colossians 1 & 2). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z of things.

That being the case let me ask, “If Jesus Christ is the One we strive to become like in all ways except His Deity, then what process of discipline must we undergo if we expect to be like Him one day?” It ought to be the most intense discipline out there! To become like Jesus ought to require stricter training and discipline than to become a Professional Athlete because the bar of influence is set higher for us.

Now I know that it is not humanly possible to attain to the perfection of Christ and as such we require the blood of Christ Himself to make us acceptable to the Father, but that does not negate the fact that to become like Jesus Christ is still our lifely goal. And if Jesus is our life’s goal, folks, then let us all confess right now that our training in righteousness is not near as disciplined as it needs to be.

Thomas A Kempis said quite condemningly, “O if they would give that diligence to the rooting out of vice and the planting of virtue which they give unto vain questionings: there had not been so many evil doings and stumbling-blocks among the laity, nor such ill living among houses of religion” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1 Chapter 3 Paragraph 5).

I want us to be honest with ourselves that we are not yet as disciplined in our quest for Christ as we have need to be. None of us. All of us give more discipline to the care of our bodies than we do the care of our souls. All of us contemplate more the temporal things of this earth than we do the eternal riches of Christ. All of us devote more hours to the attainment of positions of earthly honor than we do the heavenly honor of Christ. And my question for us in this post it this:

“If the squire undergoes such strict discipline to become a knight why is it Christians have undergone such lazy discipline to become like Christ?”

The Scriptures tell us of the need for strict training, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Cor.9:24-27).

I don’t know about you but I am in great need of further spiritual discipline. I need training. I need to place my body in a more complete subjection to my spirit in order to run this race well. Personally, I have recognized in myself that I think about food a lot. I enjoy eating and I am rather undisciplined in when and what I eat. Because I do not gain weight and work out fairly regularly I have allowed myself to eat just about anything I feel like, whenever I feel like it. But what I am recognizing about myself is that I desire the pleasures of temporal food much more than I desire the pleasure of feasting on God’s Word. In fact I believe I have had things backwards for quite some time. I have feasted on temporal food and nibbled on God’s Word when what I should have been doing is feasting on God’s Word and nibbling on temporal food as needed.

For this reason I am seeking now for the Holy Spirit to train me in this area. I am going be denying myself the urge to eat if it is not meal time. I need to discipline my body in this way. What about you? What do you recognize about yourself? In what ways is your soul undisciplined like mine?