Reading through the book, Spiritual Leadership, has reminded me that there are an amazing number of gold nuggets in Sanders' writing! One in particular struck me this evening, and I thought it might be valuable to share: "Before we can conquer the world, we must first conquer the self."
I read that quote after spending about 45 minutes surfing the Internet. Why was I surfing the Internet? I'm not really sure that I have a good answer to that question. That's what troubles me. My mind works in a very spastic way (some might even call me A.D.D.)… one thought triggers another thought, which triggers another thought, and before I know it, I have spent 45 minutes surfing the web with no purpose whatsoever. I wish I could get my 45 minutes back and do something productive with it. But I can't.
The problem is that I am not always very disciplined. I think a lot of times we think about "discipline" as a dirty word – it just sounds bad, and it reminds me of the days when my mom pulled out the wooden spoon to spank me for misbehaving. It's not a dirty word, though. In fact, I think discipline is what sets a strong leader apart from a weak leader. Sanders said that people who are not disciplined are also not qualified to lead.
How many hours a day do you waste? Where could you be more disciplined? What can you do with your time to be more productive. Sure, it's okay to have some down time during the day. But when I fail to accomplish something for God's Kingdom, I'm left believing that I have allowed a lack of discipline to get the best of me.
Leave a Reply