It is natural at this time of the year to look at the list of your goals for the year that is coming to a close and tick those that you achieved.
Sermon of the Week with Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi
The unachieved are sometimes revised and carried over to the coming year or discarded as you feel you were too ambitious.
For example, you may have wanted to shed off 10kg, but now you feel you should start with 1kg or you no longer want to depress yourself with weight loss anymore.
It is natural also to find out why you didn’t achieve. You have many reasons, but may I suggest that the major reason why you failed to make it this year is indiscipline.
As a Christian, many times you accuse the devil of blocking or hindering you.
You also blame it on God for not granting you grace to accomplish. Sometimes, the greatest obstacle is you!
Nowadays, people are fascinated by blaming it on haters. Please spare your so-called haters; you are your hater as we shall find out.
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You are your greatest obstacle! If you can get yourself out of the way you will make it. God gave you the grace, the devil is trampling at the corner and you are busy messing up things for yourself.
In the Great Commission, Jesus commands us to teach all nations. Matthew 28:19 reads: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
It is Jesus’ wish to have Christianity influence and impact all nations as the way of life.
That’s why Christianity is not a religion, but the way of life imparted by Christ.
Religion is man trying to find God; Christianity is God redeeming his people.
However, my brief today is not comparison of Christianity and religion.
Discipline is foundational in your walk with Christ otherwise you will never realise your goals.
The Amplified Bible puts it this way in Matthew 28:19: “Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Making disciples connotes a disciplined lifestyle. That’s why you are taught how to pray, fast and give.
They also teach you how to behave as a youth or wife or husband. As a Christian business person, you should not underpay your staff and never use dishonest scales.
As a Christian employee, you should not steal from your employer. Sometimes, I am puzzled that things disappear from an office where everyone professes to be a Christian.
Stationery in the form of pens and bond paper are stolen to cater for your children you put at a school you don’t afford. Tissue paper is stolen to finance your lifestyle at your rented apartment you cannot afford.
Many times when people think of discipline, they think it is for children alone.
No, discipline is for us all!
In the first instance, discipline does not taste sweet, but the results are sweet.
The Bible puts it this way in Hebrews 12:11: “Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
If you embrace discipline, you will enjoy later on.
Waking up early, jogging, fasting and studying are not that joyous, but the result which is a prosperous life is peaceable. Let me close with some quotes.
Zig Ziglar says: “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
Without a disciplined lifestyle, you achieve nothing even if you carry an awesome prophecy upon your life.
Jim Rohn says: “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”
The reason why you are still lagging behind is indiscipline. Don’t lead a lifestyle you cannot afford and plunge yourself into debt.
You cannot have more than you’ve got unless and until you become more than you are.
To become more, you need discipline.
Harry S Truman observed thus: “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves . . . self-discipline with all of them came first.”
Aristotle opines: “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.” Chris Page sums it up and says: “The most powerful control we can ever attain is to be in control of ourselves.”
They say you will conquer twice if you conquer yourself. If you conquer those bad habits, you will conquer the world. If you don’t conquer the bad habits, they will conquer you and the world will fall on you. Lead a disciplined life, you are going somewhere.
All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated Feedback: [email protected] Follow Pastor Makarimayi on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI and Facebook
