Re-educating old man to go back to self-discipline

I do have self-discipline but I am not self-disciplined as I used to be when I was younger and athelitic. I have the will power but not the discipline to follow-through. I have some habits to overcome that caused me to procrastinate and more so than often which lead me to have lack of assertiveness. My life is full of trials and my lack of assertiveness have created more problems for me. Prosrastination is my biggest enemy. I know the key to self-discipline for me is ambition which means a motivation to improve my situation. I have to do this. I want my ambition to have enthusiasm with a purpose in my life. Like Bill Bradley said once, "Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”

I have to remember the reality is that everyone dies as explained in Ecclesiastes 3:19-20. I do NOT want to waste my life and die without understanding life’s purpose. No matter what kinds of dreamss and desires I have, I have to remember that my accomplishments to get what I want will only give me momentary thrills and temporary satisfaction that will never last (Isaiah 55:1-3, John 6:35).

One of my favorite Christian theologian, A. W. Tozer said "The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of 10,000 temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which, at the most, cannot concern him for very long." I understood this quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer "In view of our supreme purpose, the present difficulties and disappointments seem trivial".

I have this book called "The Purpose-Driven Life", while I love the concept of the book however doctrinally, I was having trouble with the author's concept. As I read the book, I was getting more unconfortable what the author was saying because it does not sound right biblically. The book itself is not heretical in content however, how it was written bothers me because of poor theology stemming from an inadequate bibliology. The book was written as they were new ideas. The Bible has always been the same and the ideas always have been the same. We are to look for the objective truth of Scripture and to apply that to the situation we are placed in.

I have learned to be careful how I select my daily devotional books and need to look from doctrinal perspective rather than my own satisfaction. I do not want to read watered down gospel because it is false gospel and doctrinally wrong. If I read books like A.W. Tozer, I won't see authors like Tozer water down biblical doctrines to make me spiritually easy and pleased. I want to be challenged doctrinally so my life can be more fulfilled. The idea is that the purposes are God's purposes, not mine. In 1 Timothy 4 explains that Christians must choose their priorities carefully like an athlete as to have disciplined lives forgo some desires that may hinder doing God's will and please God as you are after God's own heart.

It is my responsibility as a Christian to discern and I don't want to be gullible. I can either be gullible or discerner. I choose to be a discerner. Paul said, "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection ..." (1Corinthians 9:27). Solomon wrote in Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. What should motivate me like an athlete who trains for the Olympics to win a gold medal such self-discipline and willing to face the endurance of my life.

Before I start swimming again in two weeks, I need to exercise my mind and get motivated. Stop prosrastinating and focus on ambition to do what is right for my body, my life and my real purpose.