Motivation or Discipline? (CoA)

Since first signing up for the World Race, I have been excited to know God, to make Him known, to see the world, and to grow deeper in my faith and walk with the Lord. Why did I think going on this mission trip would change and develop my faith so much more than staying at home? What differences would these experiences make within me? Even in the few weeks I have been in Georgia I can already see an internal spiritual shift, but why? One clear reason for this growth is spiritual disciplines.

The environment here at training camp has been created to point us to the practice of all sorts of spiritual disciplines that were not necessarily always an intentional part of life at home. Here there are no outside distractions, and our day-to-day schedules are built around the Lord and growing in our faith – every day. What a huge shift! This new focus has given me the space to see that the major difference in my mindset has been in understanding motivation versus discipline. While both play incredibly important roles in faith development, our society tends to focus on motivation rather than discipline. In my experience, motivation focuses so much on the passion and determination behind every action. However, it is not a consistent feeling or state of being. It is the “get up and go” but it is not the “grind.” Discipline, however, is the “grind.” It is about the consistent doing of things despite whether they are fun or whether you actually want to do them. No matter how you are feeling, no matter your level of motivation, discipline instills the mindset that you will “get the thing done” now, not when you feel like it. I believe discipline is a lost art in today’s American culture.

To be fully honest, I am on team motivation, not team discipline, most of the time. However, since being on this trip I have found a new love for discipline. At home I would read my Bible, go to church, and listen to worship music whenever I felt like it. I wanted to refuel and refocus on God when I felt like it not when I needed it. We need the Word of the Lord every day. We need to worship Him every day. We need to sit in His presence every day. Whether we feel like it or not. We were made to love and worship Him, but we have fallen so far out of practice that it seems like a foreign concept. But, here at training camp every day we practice spiritual disciplines. We get up and read our Bibles. We have set prayer time every day. We have Sabbath every week. Now we live our lives guided by spiritual discipline. Now every day, since being more disciplined, I long to be in God’s presence. The day seems off if I haven’t spent time in the Word of God, in worship to the Lord, in His presence. Spiritual discipline has shifted my mind from thinking of these practices as a “to do list” to seeing them as a necessary refuel moment of my day. In making intentional time for God, He is filling me up so I can overflow and pour out into others. God truly is a generous father who wants a relationship with us if we invite Him into it. Thank you, God!