Power, love, and self discipline

The first sermon I ever preached was from 2 Timothy 1.7. "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power love and self discipline." It was at a youth retreat when I was 21.  

Power, or the being able to do things, love, and self discipline. I guess in the 20 years since then I've come to believe that these three things are even more important.

Power. Not power as in control of something, but power in the ability to do things, to affect change, to accomplish things. What person doesn't ask the question, "Can I do that? I don't know if I have the ability. I don't think I can." Yet Jesus doesn't call us to things without a means to do them. We don't have unlimited abilities, but we are able to do what God asks us to do, in the way that he intends.  We are much more capable than we feel. The exact word is dynamite.

Love. Isn't this the best thing that's before everything? The person who grows in love is the person who is mature, and wise, and godly, and spiritual. We think that we can be all these things without growing in love, but this is foolishness. Love is the goal, and the measuring stick, of how human we are.

Self discipline. No one becomes who they want to be or who God wants them to be without self discipline. This is the ability to make yourself do what you need to do. Instead we are too often pushed around by the expectations of others, distracted by the meaninglessness of Google and gaming, lazy and weak-spirited. And then we become frustrated either with ourselves or with the situation around us because we are unable to make ourselves and do what we want to do. We become like the little ball in a Pong game. Self discipline is the ability to control your abilities.

Continue on. I am convinced that this faith lives in you.