There are signs recovery is taking place. The major disruption may be behind us but the fallout is still evident. The research regarding the impact on emotional health and family is a work in progress. But a couple of facts seem clear:
- People who were self-disciplined before COVID are doing
better during and after the pandemic.
- People who lacked self-discipline are faring worse.
Surprised? Not really.
Self-discipline leads to flourishing. Without it, we simply don’t do as well.
It is the path to freedom.
Discipline is doing something within my power that I do to
enable me to do what I cannot do by direct effort.[i] Discipline
paves the way to greater freedom.
You can’t play the violin by sheer willpower in one single day. But what is in your power to do? Scales, study, watching instructional YouTube videos, and taking lessons.
In the beginning you have no freedom. You are locked into playing “Twinkle twinkle little star.” You cannot play Beethoven. It isn’t in your power. You are not free to play Beethoven.
I play piano and studied jazz at a local university. Great improvisation is the goal of jazz. For the non-musical it might be described as artistic freedom. It’s to create music on the fly within a certain structure of keys and chords. Sort of like riding a bicycle with no hands.
I can improvise a little. But when I hear someone like the famous Jazz-pianist, Joey Alexander, I realize that he enjoys a freedom to improvise that I’ve never known. He’s free to play in any key and over any structure of keys and chords because he did what he had power to do and now is able to do what he couldn’t do by sheer willpower.
Discipline = freedom. Not boredom. Not joyless, no frills life. As disciples, as followers of Jesus, as leaders, and examples to others, as people who want to grow in their craft, there are habits (disciplines) that you can practice or NOT that will lead us toward freedom to become better leaders.
What should I do, then?
A better question is: Who do you want to be? Who do you admire? Decide that. Then do the habits they did in order to have the freedom they had.
Do you want to lead others? How are you doing in leading yourself? The less supervision you need the more freedom you’ll achieve. The more supervision you need, the less freedom. That’s why we have prisons. That’s where people go who are unable to supervise themselves.
Raw talent is inspiring. I’ve met countless people with amazing gifts—an innate sense of humor, natural beauty or a great speaking voice. Others with charisma galore who are a delight to be around. But sometimes they are infected with sloth. Lazy busy.
I remember a guy I’ll call Mick. He had an infectious laugh. He was a blast to be around. He went to college for two years. He studied leadership and theology. He had a fantastic sense of humor and great timing in his speaking. But he couldn’t lose his slothful ways. Today, he’d rather be playing pool or video games and throwing down a few beers. His natural talent and charismatic personality could only take him so far. No one wants to follow him because he can’t lead himself.
The wise man says the slothful has something to learn from the ant who has no overseer. The wise and diligent person supervises himself. She works when nobody is looking.
Not so the slothful. He needs a chief because he cannot achieve by himself. Not only that, but the wise man says the sloth lives only in the present. Not the wise ant:
"She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man."
The self-disciplined person
recognizes the season. The ant lives for the present too, but she prepares for
winter. She voluntarily enters some hardship in order to be ready for the
reality of winter.
In summer, there is sunshine. There are long days, tomatoes, peaches and swimming in the pool. But winter is coming, ready or not.
The slothful? He thinks the good times will always last. “I’m making money today, I’ll always make good money.” He doesn’t save for a downturn in the economy, for sickness, for slow times, for children. If it’s summertime now, it will always be summertime. He doesn’t plan for a rainy day. ‘Why do that when the sun is shining?’ Wise building contractors know that January will be slow. Successful car salesmen know sales will not be the same in November as they are in April. They lead themselves by preparing for what’s coming.
Occasionally, as an elder, I will prepare a couple for marriage. After some initial conversation, I let them know that before I will marry them, they must see a counselor and complete the pre-marital sessions called, PREPARE.[ii] I let them know it will cost them several hundred dollars. It’s surprising how many couples will wince at the price tag even though they will gladly fork over that much for a wedding cake. They will try and find a shortcut through the sessions, perhaps even find another pastor, because they think the burning-hot-love they feel right now will be how they always feel. I reason with them that relationship trouble and possible divorce will cost them a lot more than a few hundred dollars! Prepare for winter in relationships.
Life has seasons. Winter is coming. Prepare now with self-discipline.
"A little sleep, a little
slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man."
Slothfulness leads to loss. Notice
how the wise man says, “a little” three times. It’s not the big choices that
sabotage self-leadership, it’s often the little ones.
Derek Kidner comments on the
slothful as one who “deceives himself by
the smallness of his surrenders…as inches and minutes of opportunity slip away.”
The ant recognizes harvest time is
short. Momentum is short-lived. Youth is short. As the ant leads herself, so
the leader must lead himself while there is opportunity.
We often lose sight of this. We miss:
- Opportunity to raise kids while you have youthful energy
- Opportunity to go to college before parenting
- Opportunity to train children for adulthood before they leave the nest
- Opportunity to invest time in your personal growth instead of the next season of your favorite sitcom
So how do I begin to lead myself?
The solution isn’t only to “just do it” as Nike would say. For the
Jesus-follower, it is also to understand who you’re accountable to.
“Do not
be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (Romans 12:11)
The writer, Paul, first gives us the negative: Don’t be slothful in zeal. Give up your passivity when it comes to passion. Then the positive: Keep an eager attitude. Keep your spirit flame-hot. Then he gives us the why: you are serving the Lord.
Paul says it in another way here:
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." (Colossians 3:23,24)
Self-leadership isn’t just about you. Neither is it just so your team can have
a better leader. It’s for Jesus.
John
Bunyan describes this vividly in Pilgrim’s Progress,
My name is Pilgrim. Yesterday, at dusk I met along my way
An enemy. His name was Sloth. He tried to lure me, like a moth, exhausted, to his idle flames.
As always, he used other names:
Relief and Respite and Repose and Rest, and Leisure…
“So, Pilgrim,” Sloth replied, “you’ll earn your heaven with your arts? Go learn your Bible better. Saved by grace, not works, the book is clear. Go chase your heaven, laboring. That’s not my taste.”
“My heaven, Sloth” I answered, “chased Me long before I found my way to it. Grace, to be sure! The day will show again the half-text you left out. Sloth, we are made to do: We are his workmanship in Christ, made for good works. He sacrificed His life that we might live in them. He the vine, and we the stem, and they, the fruit. Is not the fruit of love our life?”
“Pointless dispute!” Sloth muttered to himself. He turned to go, and said to me, “You’ve spurned My offer of sweet rest. Go waste Your life. You are a fool. You’ll taste your sorrow. Mark my words.”
And he was gone. And so, one victory obtained, my weary soul was kept. And I lay down my head and slept.
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim, experiences a
personal victory. The victory isn’t over the fictional Sloth as much as it is
over self. He is victorious over the sluggard within.
When I feel my soul getting numb, passionless, when I’m tempted to not give the full time needed in preparation for a message and instead fritter away my time surfing the web---I remind myself of the gospel of grace and that I’m serving the One who gave Himself up for me, who is listening to the cries of my heart. That’s when I say, “Lord unless you breathe life into this message and into my discipline, it will be lifeless.” I am reminding myself that my paycheck is no reward for self-leadership. It is more. I’m serving the Lord.
When I’m tempted to quit because of laziness, foolishness, despair, or weariness, I will sometimes say it out loud: “I do this for Jesus!”
LEAD YOURSELF.
[i] Dallas Willard, “Live Life to the Full,” https://dwillard.org/articles/live-life-to-the-full
[ii] https://www.prepare-enrich.com/
