5 Minutes with Christ: Spiritual Nourishment for Busy Teachers

5 Minutes with the Saints: More Spiritual Nourishment for Busy Teachers

---

Paul clearly taught that Christ is returning to take His people to be with Him, but also to deal out retribution and judgment to those who have not obeyed the gospel 2 Thess. Not all will be saved. There are two main interpretations. But in a special sense He is the Savior of believers, since He not only gives them temporal blessings, but eternal deliverance from His judgment.

The problem with this view is that it forces on the word Savior an unusual meaning that does not fit the context. He has provided salvation for all, but it is only applied to those who believe in Christ. The point is, apart from Christ people are alienated from God, on their way to eternal judgment.

But God has provided a sufficient salvation for all who will believe.

5 Minutes with Christ: Spiritual Nourishment for Busy Teachers

So these eternal issues—the fact of eternity itself; the fact of the living God; and, the fact of salvation—provide the motivation for the hardship of discipline unto godliness. Then comes the work:. What does it entail?

I want to sketch what it is and is not. The verb is a present imperative, pointing to a process.

You can do it for 25 years, but the day you quit you start getting flabby. By definition, discipline means acting against your feelings because you have a higher goal. If we violate our feelings, we might do some sort of psychological damage! Or, you feel like sacking in; but your goal is to be godly, so you roll out of bed, grab your Bible, and spend time with the Lord. Discipline is something in which both God and you must be involved. That is, when the Spirit of God controls you, He gives you the ability to control yourself.

We have to say no to things that hinder us from our purpose. It certainly means controlling the TV set! The goal is fairly clear: He takes God seriously and recognizes the practical implications in terms of developing a godly thought life, godly speech, and godly actions. The way we move toward that goal in the words of Heb.

An athlete works his schedule around his goal. He says no to many good activities so that he can say yes to his daily workout. And how we spend our minutes and hours is how we spend our days. The goal of godliness demands that you spend time each day alone with God in His Word and prayer.

We all have the same number of hours in our day. We all make time to do what we want to do.

Reward Yourself

The question is, Is your schedule in line with your goal of becoming a godly person? And discipline, though it sounds restrictive, is the only way to true freedom. Someone who has disciplined himself to play the piano or speak a foreign language is free to do things I am restricted from doing. As we saw last week, Paul talks about enjoying God and then moves on to talk about discipline. They go hand in hand. We need the balance of Scripture which teaches that God rested after His labor, and so should we.

Bestselling Series

He made our bodies to require sleep. By His grace, I can labor and strive for His purpose, but I can also relax and not worry that somehow His purpose will flounder without me. This point also comes from the balance of Scripture, not directly from our text. God saw fit to record His truth in written form. Almost anyone can learn to read. That may be a necessary step in disciplining yourself for godliness.

5 Minutes with the Saints - More Spiritual Nourishment for Busy Teachers (Paperback)

Meanwhile, get the Bible on tape and listen to it daily. Start out with 15 minutes a day reading the Bible and minutes in prayer. But you need spiritual nourishment from the Word as much as you need to eat.

Also, we implement spiritual discipline It is to change our lives. I may need to change my behavior. The Word often confronts my selfishness. Remember, the goal of the Christian life is not happiness and fulfillment. It is godliness and becoming a good servant of Christ Jesus 4: But the beautiful irony is that as we pursue that goal, God blesses us with true joy and fulfillment, because godliness holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come 4: Exercise is discipline and discipline is hard work, and who likes hard work?

And yet, like it or not, discipline is essential for godliness. And godliness is essential because eternity is certain. There are no shortcuts, no easy, effortless ways to godliness. But if you have fixed your hope on the living God who is the Savior, can you do anything less than discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness? Handing Off the Baton 2 Timothy 4: It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.

I pray with them at Mass. I celebrate with them when they pass a test, cry with them when they lose a parent to cancer, and listen as they discern their future. This privilege humbles me daily. She was pre-med and a leader in almost every club on campus. Her plan was to pursue a high-profile medical profession after graduation, but one small experience led her in a different direction. After returning to campus she stopped by my room one evening as I was making dinner.

She wanted to be a doctor who made her life about meeting the needs of the poor.

I cherish this memory, which confirms for me that the Lord uses little brushes to create and shade us. Today, may we open our doors to these small moments of conversion where God is painting the masterpieces of our lives.

Order 5 Minutes with the Saints: Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.

• A Banking Union for the Euro Area: 13
• Il dolore si fa gioia: San Pio e Natuzza - due vite un messaggio (Ingrandimenti) (Italian Edition)
• De lallaitement aux nourritures solides (Collection Bébé Expert t. 3) (French Edition)
• A Longing to Fit In
• Environmental Change in Siberia: Earth Observation, Field Studies and Modelling: 40 (Advances in Global Change Research)
• Why Say No When the World Says Yes? Resisting Temptation in an Immoral World