You can’t read the New Testament and fail to understand that the Christian life was never meant to be a life of ease. Each of us will encounter adversity and adversaries, and each of us will have to wage war against our fearsome foes— the world, the flesh, and the devil. Then, each of us will also have to labor to come to know God and to grow in our likeness to God.
For all these reasons, the Christian life demands a disciplined approach. The apostle Paul often compared Christians to athletes who must train diligently to have any hope of victory. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things,” he said. “They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).
The only way to win the match or to be victorious in the race is to discipline your whole life toward that podium, toward that gold medal. Similarly, the only way to prevail in the Christian life is to discipline your entire existence toward Christlikeness. Donald Whitney speaks for all of us when he says, “In my own pastoral and personal Christian experience, I can say that I’ve never known a man or woman who came to spiritual maturity except through discipline. Godliness comes through discipline.”
