Buckling Down

My first month of the monastic life has not been like unto a first month a real monk might have experienced. I have been loose around the edges with my schedule, a little too accomodating concerning personal needs and not enough discipline regarding the rigid scheduling that is supposed to produce character of a spiritual nature. And even with its flaws, the month has borne great personal fruit. I have prayed for my fellows with more fervor and more consistency than in the past. I have wended my way through several books of the Bible and gained new insights. I have felt more confident in my purposes in God. And I have sensed His leading in areas in which I have needed direction. Imagine what better discipline could do in the coming month!

"Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering." (Heb. 10:32) In our first days in Christ, we are excited, moved beyond our daily routine to delve deep into God's Word and to hear his voice, see his hand in everything around us. As our days wear on, we might go to a space where church is a once per week event, and the rest of life is disconnected therefrom. We neglect the Word, worship, listening and faith. We may even drift from the Body of Christ for a time. If we are not completely overwhelmed by the weeds, which can ultimately choke out faith in Christ, we are at least inhibited in our growth, our light darkened or hid under the bed.

So the writer of Hebrews reminds us to "Remember those earlier days." We are called a few verses later to know that we have "better and lasting possessions" than the ones that distract us with life on this earth from the life toward which we must look forward. Our "remembering" should be understood as not just a fond "recollecting," but rather as a daily, active participation in the fruits of those early days. This calls for the sometimes mundane drudgery of activities that don't reek of the mountaintop, but of the valleys. It is not in the exciting times that we grow most, but in the times where God seems silent, and in which we set our shoulder to the plow, not looking back, but digging in our heels and driving forward.

Prayer, Bible study, meditation, private praise, occupational worship (worshiping God in our work-a-day lives)...these are all necessary "remembrances" of those earlier days. Their fruit is seen when later we are once again called to "stand our ground ... in the face of suffering." Our attendance to these details, as athletes to their daily training, shows that we "live by faith," rather than just feast on it occasionally. Verse 38 tells us that God will not be pleased if we "shrink back" from this faith. It is followed in verse 39 with the reminder that, "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved."

A last note: I have recently heard that two of my messages at church have offended some within. One was a praise for people who had been faithful, over many years, in their tithing - not because of the money, as if God needs the money, but because of the sacrifices made out of obedience to God, which obedience he demands. The other was a praise for those who, when present, enrich our corporate praise times - and who, when they are not with us, are sorely missed in our worship. The implication as it was taken was that others were "left out." I have a hard time apologizing for this. The compliments to those who tithe faithfully and offer themselves wholly in praise to God are well deserved. And the warning must go out to those who have not received the compliments: There will be no detraction from those who live their lives in faith, but you, the complainer, must reflect fearlessly on just where your faith is.

Why do you not come ready to worship? Why can you not spare the minimum of what God demands in tithes? Why are there only minimal evidences of your faith available to the community of God? It is because you neglect the daily "buckling down," the remembances of those earlier days, the constant use of the Christian disciplines - it is these things that deny you compliments before the body. Perhaps I am wrong in doing this. But the lack of recognition is not because there is something to recognize. Apply yourselves to God's word and to the ministry. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Stop making excuses for your lack of discipline. Stop neglecting the meat of God's Word and suckling as if infants, taking only milk for your diet. "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

I speak harshly, but as a coach, not as your adversary. I speak to myself, as well. Buckle down. Daily discipline yourself for faith. My compliments mean little. But if you have a desire for the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." then you will actually do well, rather than doing nothing. Buckle down.