“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the Gospel’s sake… And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

I Corinthians 9:22-23, 25, 27

Paul speaks here about the manner of his life and how he constantly measured his conduct for the sake of the Gospel. Notice the emphasis on his desire to use all means in his life to save the lost. “Save some” reflects his goal, but “by all means” reflects his consistency in that goal. He never wanted to lose an opportunity to win a soul, so he had to be ever watchful, ever consistent in all things. Verse 25 indicates that this constant vigilance demanded temperance in all things. While the word “temperate” points to self-control, the words “in all things” emphasize consistency in that self-control.

Paul had to be consistent in all means and in all things to accomplish his God-given goal. Therefore, verse 27 tells us that he maintained a consistent discipline of his body. Why? What was the danger to be avoided? Losing his reward. But notice again those words: “by any means.” The word “subjection” shows his careful attitude, while the words “by any means” speak of his consistency in watchfulness. Just suppose we substitute the word “some” each time “all” is used in this passage. What would you have? You would have a modern Christian! One who is diligent some of the time, faithful for awhile, careful in a few areas, self-controlled most of the time…

The diamond virtue of D.I.S.C.I.P.L.I.N.E. that I’m drawing out of this passage is C.onsistency. Paul lived a life of careful consistency for the glory of God. He was concerned that even “when he had preached” there could be an area of his life less than pleasing to God. This passage gives us a wonderful display of the consistency of this man of God. Let’s take a closer look.

C.ONSISTENCY

A disciplined man is a man of meaningful routines. Let me stop and qualify what I mean; there is a big difference between a routine and a rut. Consistency goes much farther than falling into a mindless, heartless rut of duties and schedules. When we get into a rut, the quality of our excellence suffers more and more the longer we are obligated to a certain task. When we have a meaningful routine, the quality of excellence increases with passing time and we continue to labor with the same fervency of heart as at the beginning.

What makes a meaningful routine meaningful? Well, what’s the initial reason for the routine? The reason we have chosen to be consistent in a task is because we firmly believe it will bring glory to God; this is what creates the meaningful part of meaningful routines. Every moment we invest in that area is accompanied with a deep sense of its value to the glory of God. A rut is a repetition of something we place little value on. A rut is developed when we have no heart peace or assurance that what we are doing is in perfect accordance with God's specific will for us. The lack of faith makes it impossible to perform this ritual with any meaningfulness. Our routines of Bible reading, prayer, memorization, teaching, studying, witnessing, music practice, writing, etc. ought to deepen in richness day by day because they are meaningful routines.

Meaningful routines are an absolute must for the individual with a vision. They see the desired goal in the distance and realize that they will not reach it if they choose to slough off in their routine. Often they must work against great difficulty to accomplish daily goals, but they will strive for consistency in growth, attitudes, and virtues. Consistency is put to the test when the schedule becomes demanding, physical health goes up and down, and emotions are unstable. Then there must be the striving, the endurance, and the determination not to quit in the midst of difficulty. Many just give up in the very outset accepting defeat as a necessary evil rather than fighting onward knowing the prize is worth fighting for.

Inconsistency: the greatest enemy of achievement

One of the greatest enemies of accomplishment is the enemy of inconsistency. You will never excel in anything for God’s glory without this diamond virtue of consistency. God puts on your heart the passion to memorize Scripture; you start working diligently every day for about four months, and then suddenly you turn around and you haven’t worked on it for half a year. Before long, you have completely abandoned the vision God gave you. If you had only been consistent you would now have memorized a great number of verses!

Think about the musician; they worked so hard at the piano, so hard on the violin etc., but after a few years, they just quit being consistent. Had they only kept at it every day, think where they would be after 10 years! Sometimes I’ll meet someone who was once very consistent in witnessing to the lost. Consequently, they had several years of fruitfulness early on in their Christian life. Somewhere along in life, they just stopped witnessing, and now if you look back here is what you see: first three years - 15 people saved. Last 30 years - 2 people saved. Just think what it would have been like if they had been consistent! How many more souls could have been won!

We could speak about consistency in the areas of holiness. Certainly it takes great consistency to keep the heart clean and the mind in order during this generation of incredible temptation. Think about those years in your life of fervent desire to walk with a pure heart and a clear conscience. You consistently refused to allow impure images to enter your mind through your eyes. You defied the allurements of worldly entertainment from the venues of Hollywood and Television. You protected your emotions from the wrong influences found in books and bad company. You resisted the desires of the flesh to dominate your attitude with tempers, anger, and jealousy.

Oh think how pure your heart was then! Think how clear and orderly the mind was for service! Think how free the conscience was from guilt! Think how cautious the hands were from committing sin! But now what has happened to that consistency? How the standards have fallen all around us. Ladies once careful to dress modestly are riding the downward trends of worldly fashion. Families once alert to swearing, indecency and unholy humor are too often caught in the midst of compromise between what they know is right and their carnal desire to “keep watching.” Men once vigilant against the lustful glance seem powerless to harness the eyes with holy restraint. Families once typified by the atmosphere of tenderness and holy calm have given way to tempers and abrasive communications.

Losing ground

Much could be said about the root of these great problems, but inconsistency is at least a part of the problem. The meaningful routine of holiness is a routine that honors God, therefore we ought to give our heart to it in the minutest detail. If you do not, it won’t be long before you have lost much ground and have much to recover from the enemy.

Spurgeon once used the dream of Pharaoh to demonstrate the importance of consistency. Pharaoh dreamed that seven healthy cows were eaten by seven thin cows; Spurgeon imagines the thin cows of inconsistency eating away at the healthy cows of diligence and achievement. Listen to his words: “My days of sloth have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry; my seasons of coldness have frozen all the genial glow of my periods of fervency and enthusiasm; and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances in the divine life. If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to which I had attained. If every day I journeyed towards the goal of my desires I should soon reach it, but backsliding leaves me still far off from the prize of my high calling, and robs me of the advances which I had so laboriously made.” Listen to what God’s Word says in Proverbs:

“I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come…”

Proverbs 24:30-34

What a tragedy that a vineyard once so well kept, a stone wall once so beautifully maintained, and a field once so carefully cultivated should be broken down and become useless. What a tragedy to see a Christian who worked so hard for many years on their talents and gifts for God let them all go to waste! What a shame to see a believer let a desire for sleep and ease rob them of the spiritual advancements that they had previously made! What a disaster to see a Christian family simply give up on living the high calling of the holy Christian life and fall into decay and demoralization!

Unstable as water

Jacob gathers his twelve sons around him in a sacred moment at the very end of his life. He is going to communicate to his sons what their futures will hold. There is a mixture of prophetic speaking and predictive speaking. By “predictive” I mean that Jacob can see what his sons will be based on what he has seen in their character up to that point. He begins with his first born, Reuben:

“Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power...”

Wow! Sounds great so far! What potential he had, what talent he possessed, what strength he displayed! Truly, the very same could be said of every Christian due to the reality of the Spirit of Christ living within them. But notice the next seven words out of Jacob’s mouth:

“…unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.” Genesis 49:3-4

So who are you going to be? Paul, who was nothing spectacular to look at or hear, but was consistent in his service for God? Or Reuben who had all the earmarks of a natural born leader but was inconsistent as water. Prayerfully, let’s ask the Spirit of the risen Christ to add this diamond virtue to our D.I.S.C.P.L.I.N.E. — C.onsistency!