A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

Ses s i on 3: The Ce l ebrat i ons of a Di sc i p l i ned L i fe 95

j. Every effort must be made to add virtue to virtue, 2 Pet. 1.5-9 – For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 2. Practical insight: A rule of discipline is effective if it recognizes that fruit, transformation, and excellence only come after much effort and investment. The price of excellence is disciplined application and investment over an extended period of time, and the continuance of that discipline once a level of excellence is attained. The love of liberty is a very great thing and it has always been a part of the Christian faith, but the liberty of the Christian man has been vastly more than a concern for his own freedom from isolation from the structures of society and the Church. It is the Christian concern for freedom that has produced such remarkable results as the emancipation of women and the legal cessation of human slavery. But the Christian philosophy of freedom has always involved dis cipline as its price. The original statement of this philosophy appears in the words of Christ which are frequently quoted in part, but seldom quoted in their totality, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8.31-32). In other words, according to Christ, freedom is not a starting point, but always a conclusion; it is something to be earned. And the participation in the life of the disciplined and com mitted group is part of the price. This is what those who are satisfied with mild religion do not know. They do not wholly reject the Church, and are even glad that it exists, but they look upon it as an institution in the community which offers certain services of which they may avail themselves from time to time. The Church, in short, is useful. But they are terribly 3. Supporting commentary: