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Thursday, October 22

The focus of today’s culture is on “what I want.” You constantly hear things like: I want to be happy, I want to get married, I want to get divorced, I want to be famous, I want to be rich… It does not matter what it is that you want there will always be someone available to offer to fulfill your desires. Our culture is so entrenched in this ‘I want” mentality that if what we want is illegal, someone will argue in favor of legalization. If what we want is immoral, we pursue a way to redefine it and call it moral. This way of thinking is so powerful that there exists a group of men across the nation lobbying for intimate relations with underage boys. This school of thought has even penetrated the Christian church to the degree that preachers no longer tell us what we should do, instead they are telling us to do what we want to do.

I should

 There is a notable difference between doing what I should do and doing what I want to do. For example: We know we should not eat too many sweats, but we rationalize by saying, I want to eat sugary foods. We say things like, I know I should exercise but when I get home all I want to do is chill. I know I should pray and read my Bible more often but I want to go out with my friends or I should attend church on Sunday but I want to stay home and rest. The problem with the “I want” way of living is that it not always lines up with what I (you) should do. When what I want is not in alignment with what I should, we should always choose “what I should” over “what I want”.

Discipline

 Discipline can be defined as doing “what I should do” as opposed to “what I want to do”. We are accustomed in our culture to doing the complete opposite and the results are less than stellar. You do not need convincing when it comes to the value of discipline. If you exercise discipline in every area of your life, the results will always be positive and you will always progress. Consider finances for a moment, if you are disciplined with your finances the results will be positive. When we choose to do “what I should do” instead of “what I want to do”, even if we do what we should with a bad attitude, the results will always be positive.

 

Matthew 21:28-31 MSG

“Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’ “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went. “The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went. “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”

I will ask another question. Which of the two sons ended up being happier? When what I should conflicts with what I want, always default to what I should. In what areas of your life are you doing what you want instead of what you should?

Heavenly Father show me the areas of my life where I’m doing what I want instead of what I should, thank you for always guiding me to do what is right even do sometimes do sometimes I do it with the wrong attitude, yet it always benefits and brings happiness to my life.