discipline (of the spiritual kind)

Lately, I've been fasting on Thursdays, and today not being an exception, I skipped breakfast before heading off to my first accountability/prayer meeting with some friends (more about this later). However, because of the excitement of this new formation of community, getting to work 5 minutes late, and cleaning a guy's dorm which has been vacated for the summer, I forgot all about my fast and found some candy I stored away the previous day and started munching on it. After I'd eaten a few handfuls, I realized what I was doing and put away this food to restart/continue fasting. As I reflected on this (vacuuming and cleaning gives ample time for reflection), I realized that this was not just an oversight or mistake. It was actually a sign of a lack of discipline. One of the things I'm hoping fasting will create in me is a realization of things I am dependent on (food, tv, lust, or even the need for people to like me) that take the place of or a higher place than God in my life. With this realization comes the need for something like a fast from food, taking this misprioritized item and putting it much lower on the list. It's easy for me to get comfortable and not look deeply at my life and just exist on a surface level. But, I find that there is no satisfaction in this type of living. Instead, I find myself yearning for a life lived in devotion to the One who has changed my life (and no, I'm not talking about Homer Simpson - Kirk). To do this requires discipline and constant diligence to my life.

Thus reenters the accountability group I began with two other guys this morning. We joined together to focus on how we could love, respect, and honor our wives more; keep our thought lives pure; and honor God with our reading of His Word (Scripture) and time spent talking to Him among other things. With accountability comes extra reinforcement in the diligence area, and I hope that it will help me become less lazy, more attuned to the needs of others around me, and closer to a godly life.

So, as I work through this, share with me your understanding of fasting, discipline, and accountability. How can we help each other to live up to God's love and example for us?

"Not that I have already obtained all othis, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me... But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12,13b-14).