Discipline Lessons from Brady and Paul

Tom Brady was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame this summer. Brady will forever be remembered for the many on field achievements he had and the longevity that he was able to play at such a high caliber. He offered some insight into the formula that helped him maintain long-term success. This may seem like an odd thing to discuss inside the space of the church and spiritual matters and not within a locker room or a training room, but there is an echo of spiritual truth underlying Brady’s message that should sound familiar to us and again urge us to press on in our faith.

In Brady’s acceptance speech he states that everyone should play football because it is hard. He furthers this statement that it is not just the physical game of football that is hard, but that all that goes into it before the game is hard too. It’s hard to wake up early day in and out and go to multiple practices when your friends are sleeping in and doing whatever they want with their day. It’s hard to keep a regimented diet when your friends eat what they want. It’s hard to take hit after hit and to get up and do it again the next day, but so is life. Brady says to prepare for the hard struggles of life because they are on their way and football has taught him that success and achievement come from overcoming adversity and this is gained in the day in and day out work to prepare for what is coming.

“To be successful at anything, the truth is you don’t have to be special. You just have to be what most people aren’t. Consistent, determined, and willing to work for it.  No shortcuts”, said Brady that night. Brady was not talking about the spiritual life this night, but he sure echoed it. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27: “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified”. Here Paul is discussing how important self-control and discipline are to the Christian life, to his and others. Paul knows that the liberty of Christ needs to come with self-control as we face a litany of sins that want to disqualify us from our race and from witnessing to others. Paul stresses in this verse the need for discipline in our lives. Brady is echoing this truth as well.

So, as Brady encouraged those listening to do the hard thing consistently in order to succeed, Paul encourages us as believers to also be self-disciplined as we strive for an imperishable wreath. Start with the spiritual disciplines. Fasting, prayer, worship, solitude, Sabbath, studying the Bible, serving others, confession, and Scripture memorization are all disciplines you can incorporate to help discipline your spiritual life. If you are already doing one of these then great, maybe consider incorporating a new one into your rhythm. Do not try to do all of them at once but find one that feels attainable and work at it for a while. Give grace to not be perfect at it and allow it to feed your spiritual life.