This is how you do it …

“How do you get yourself to the gym on a regular basis?”

“How do you manage your portion control when everything looks so tasty?”

“How do you stay committed to reading your Bible every day?”

“How do you make it to church every single Sunday?”

“How do you manage to give ten percent of all the money you make in offerings to God?”

“How do you maintain such a loving marriage?”

“How do you  manage to keep within your budget?”

“How do you do this ….”

“… and how do you do that?”

We ask so many questions about how to accomplish tasks, as if there’s some kind of secret to doing something we either want to do, or know would be good for us. Nike, the manufacturer of athletic, shoes, clothes, and sports gear, figured out the answer to this long ago in their famous advertising tagline: “Just do it!”

Howard Hendricks wrote in his book, “Living by the Book,” the following …

“When I was in seminary, a choice man of God named Harry Ironside used to come to church and teach. I remember on one occasion somebody came up and said, ‘Dr. Ironside, I understand you get up early every morning to read and study your Bible.’

“‘Yes, I’ve been doing that all my life,’ he responded.

“‘Well, how do you manage to do it?’ the inquirer asked. ‘Do you pray about it?’

“‘No,’ Ironside replied. ‘I get up’.”

If you want to do something like get up early every day to read your Bible and pray, there’s nothing magical about making that happen. You simply have to get up and do it!

Certainly, there is a negative push from the flesh against some things, but you have the God-given capacity to overcome that push and do what is right, what is good, and the things you would like to do. Just look at how God has enabled you …

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

Using the power God has gifted to you, and applying the self-discipline God has equipped you with, you “just do it!” Spending time telling yourself you really don’t want to, and asking everyone how could such-and-such possibly be done, is just a way of procrastinating long enough to come up with excuses for a lack of action.

The best definition of self-discipline I’ve ever heard is, “Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, whether you like it or not.”

That’s self-discipline!

You’ve been enabled with it!

Add to that power from God who is so all-powerful He spoke all that exists into being.

What more do you need?

Now just go do it!

Scotty