Discipline, Not Desire, Determines Destiny

Here’s a quote to meditate on.  It’s not from the Bible and I am unsure of its source but it is a wise insight.

“Discipline, not desire, determines destiny.”

Let me give it you again,

“Discipline, not desire, determines destiny.”

Isn’t that so true?  The problem isn’t that people don’t desire to lose weight or get their finances under control or quit looking at the wrong things on the Internet.  But, it isn’t enough to simply want the right things.  We also need to be disciplined or self-controlled.

But, for all our desire to be more personally disciplined, we live in a culture of vanishing self-control.  Addictions, debt, and poor health rule too many lives.

The reason that so many fail in the area of personal discipline or self control is that they don’t know how to move forward with God’s help.  They don’t know how to be disciplined, “by grace.”

In a new series, beginning October 5, I will explain a Christ-centered foundation for self-control.  Through biblical teaching, together we will learn how the foundation of a disciplined life begins with Christ and his power and works out through all of life.

2 thoughts on “Discipline, Not Desire, Determines Destiny

  1. I was told the quote was by Charles Stanley. A lady in my FP4H class shared it with us a couple weeks ago. <

  2. I think it might predate Stanley – – – I have heard it attributed to Jim Elliot. But I have not been able to confirm.

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