Whenever we begin a journey, we have in mind the destination.  This destination is always accompanied with a reason, a WHY. The WHY activates subsequent supportive actions, which will require a variety of disciplines.  Your attitude and in what shape you actually arrive at your destination is determined by your commitment to the necessary disciplines, which was determined by the strength or depth of your WHY. 

Our life’s journey may not be glamorous or thrilling according to the world’s definition.  In fact, it may just appear to be an ordinary life, lived in an ordinary way with ordinary people surrounding us.  Yet, we must keep in mind that God Himself determines our time and place on His timeline as He keeps in sight the final destination He has prepared for us.  We must discipline our whole selves in such a way that we reach our final destination, our God-prepared destination, crossing the Ultimate Finish Line with courageous, humble, strong, knowledgeable, tender, Christ-like hearts!

Let us look at Christ for our first example.  For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross and then was raised victoriously to be seated at His Father’s right side (Hebrews 12:2, Ephesians 1:10). His destination was determined by God the Father and by Jesus Christ Himself, even before the existence of time. The road He journeyed to that destination was a life of mercy, love, and discipline.  Though the journey itself was humbling and not glamorous as we would deem such, He reached His destination with joy, with forgiveness and with full victory because His WHY was deep.  In fact, His WHY was His very core, His heart:  Because of His great love with which He loved us!  His two-fold WHY, to fully obey and please His Father and to demonstrate His great love for us, moved Him into voluntary and necessary action.

In our quest to be Christ-like, we will examine the lives of two women in Scripture, women whose beautiful, splendid and praise-worthy WHY will serve as models and motivation for our own journey. 

Read Exodus 1:1-22.

What were the names of the mid-wives?

 

What was their occupation?

 

What was commanded them? And by whom?

  

What had they determined would be their response, their destination?

 

What was their “WHY?” that drove their courageous actions?

  

Was there anything extraordinary about these two women or their lives other than the fact that they “feared God?”  Explain your answer.

  

What was revealed about their character in their attitudes, words and actions as they answered the king?

 

What was the outcome of their God-fearing heart and subsequent actions, both to their family and to the nation of Israel?

 

How were the Hebrew women who were giving birth characterized?

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As far as we know, Shiphrah and Purah’s everyday life was “ordinary.” They lived their lives as ordinary Israelite women living in Egypt.  Day in and day out they cooked, cleaned, delivered babies and served their own families.  Yet, their fear of God determined their actions; actions that supported their strong “why” of pleasing their Lord. 

 

As we continue our journey God Himself has prepared before us, we have a unique opportunity to reflect, refuel, re-evaluate, redirect and renew our passion, discipline and drive, both physically and spiritually.  We need to recall, refocus on, or maybe even determine for the first time, our own “why.”

 

“Discipline without direction is drudgery” (Whitney, pg. 1).  We know that we do not earn our way to heaven or into closer relationship with God; nor can we make Him love us more. Take note, though, Paul does write in 1 Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”  He continues (v 8), “For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 

 

There is benefit for both physical disciplines and spiritual disciplines!  Each of us is to “love the LORD your God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength,” (Mark 12:30) and to “fear the LORD our God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD our God…” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

 

We cannot do this without His Spirit in us, and we won’t do it well if we are physically out of shape!  Let us therefore, set a few short term goals before us, “reaching forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13,14). 

 

Recalling that our “WHY will activate subsequent supportive actions, which will require a variety of disciplines,” we must make sure that our physical WHY is strong as well.  Because the journey we are about to embark on will require of us disciplines that are going to challenge us and grow us, make us squeal with delight and cry like a baby at times, we need to seek God, pray over, and brainstorm any and all WHYs that we can.  Then as we have victories and even moments of perceived defeat, we will excel because we have sought God and the WHY He has placed

in our heart. 

 

Remember, the stronger our WHY, the more focused we are on the goal, the more apt we are to discipline both our bodies and our spiritual walks to that end.

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Spend time praying and brainstorming WHY you are interested in embarking on a journey of this sort. Write every reason that comes to your mind. 

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Think about any disciplines (spiritually and physically) in which you are already strong and any that you desire to improve.  

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Start to write out your goal(s) and your WHY(s) . 

 

Physically, what will your goal be in December? 

WHY? Be specific.

 

Spiritually, what discipline(s) you desiring to develop, to gain strength in, or to stretch?

WHY? Be specific.

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My prayer as we journey together in this endeavor that you and I will dig deep, our muscles will be appropriately sore, our heart will beat stronger, we will stretch ourselves in new and fascinating ways, and that we will run a race worthy of His calling…and finish well.

 

We will learn to the importance of daily quiet time, finishing well, fueling ourselves as needed, posture, praise, mindset, heart rates and perceived exertion, and so much more.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Donald, Whitney S.  Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.

          Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014. Print.

 

The Holy Bible. NASB.

          Anaheim: Lockman Foundation Publication, 2003. Print.  

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