The Value of the Goal

A boy named Kevin was practicing his guitar, but he was frustrated because he could look out the window and see his friends playing baseball. Practice, he thought, was such drudgery. And discipline without a goal – without a purpose – is indeed drudgery! But in a dream, an angel took Kevin to Carnegie Hall where he watched a virtuoso guitarist giving a magnificent concert before a hushed audience. Then the angel took Kevin back to his room. And the angel said, “Kevin, the man of the stage was you in just a few years. All you have to do between now and then is practice!”

That is how the spiritual disciplines work in our lives. Devote yourself to them – to the reading of God’s Word, to prayer, to worship – and before long, you will have more wisdom, more patience, more insight, more joy. The operative word is practice. Get serious about the disciplines, devote yourself to them – and you will develop a heart for God and become a champion for the things of God.