I remember reading a Christian book on how to be a disciplined follower of Christ, and the first illustration came on the first page of the book, and has always stuck with me. It wasn’t only until yesterday that I was reminded of it again, bringing back memories of my continued desire to learn to play guitar, but now the stronger desire to be disciplined for the work of the Lord. Below is the story and application of it, along with a video that looks pretty close to what is described in the book. I hope you enjoy, and see the grace of God in being drawn closer to Christ by way of spiritual discipline. May we have that deep desire to be more like Christ in this life than like anything else we want to be in life.
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Discipline without direction is drudgery.
Imagine six-year-old Kevin, whose parents have enrolled him in music lessons. After school every afternoon, he sits in the living room and reluctantly strums “Home on the Range” while watching his buddies play baseball in the park across the street. That’s discipline without direction. It’s drudgery.
Now suppose Kevin is visited by an angel one afternoon during guitar practice. In a vision he’s taken to Carnegie Hall. He’s shown a guitar virtuoso giving a concert. Usually bored by classical music, Kevin is astonished by what he sees and hears. The musician’s fingers dance excitedly on the strings with fluidity and grace. Kevin thinks of how stupid and klunky his hands feel when they halt and stumble over the chords. The virtuoso blends clean, soaring notes into a musical aroma that wafts from his guitar. Kevin remembers the toneless, irritating discord that comes stumbling out of his.
But Kevin is enchanted. His head tilts slightly to one side as he listens. He drinks in everything. He never imagined that anyone could play the guitar like this.
“What do you think, Kevin?” asks the angel.
The answer is a soft, slow, six-year-old’s “W-o-w!”
The vision vanishes, and the angel is again standing in front of Kevin in his living room. “Kevin,” says the angel, “the wonderful musician you saw is you in a few years.” Then pointing at the guitar, the angel declares, “But you must practice!”
Suddenly the angel disappears and Kevin finds himself alone with his guitar. Do you think his attitude toward practice will be different now? As long as he remembers what he’s going to become, Kevin’s discipline will have a direction, a goal that will pull him into the future. Yes, effort will be involved, but you could hardly call it drudgery.
When it comes to discipline in the Christian life, many believers feel as Kevin did toward guitar practice–it’s discipline without direction. Prayer threatens to be drudgery. The practical value of meditation on Scripture seems uncertain. The real purpose of a Discipline like fasting is often unclear.
First we must understand what we shall become. It is said of God’s elect in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God’s eternal plan ensures that every Christian will ultimately conform to Christlikeness. We will be changed “when he appears” so that “we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). This is no vision; this is you, Christian, in a few years.
So why all the talk about discipline? If God has predestined our conformity to Christlikeness, where does discipline fit in?
Although God will grant Christlikeness to us when Jesus returns, until then He intends for us to grow toward that Christlikeness. We aren’t merely to wait for holiness, we’re to pursue it. “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy,” we’re commanded in Hebrews 12:14, for “without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”
Which leads us to ask what every Christian should ask, “How then shall we pursue holiness? How can we be like Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”
We find a clear answer in 1 Timothy 4:7: “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” NASB.
(Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Don Whitney, pp.15-16 [1997])
Killing Sin 