I Will Not Neglect Your Word

Mark Batterson post:  Holy Desire

Ultimately, God wants to sanctify your desires so you want what He wants. Nothing like living out of holy desire. But most desires start out as disciplines. And if you discipline yourself long enough, the discipline becomes a desire. I think the goal for all spiritual disciplines is that they would become spiritual desires.

I think the best analogy is the physical disciplines that result in physical health. Going to the gym starts out as a discipline, but if you keep going it becomes a desire. If you get out of the habit, it goes back to being a discipline again. That is the way spiritual health works. You don't always feel like reading the Bible, and that's when it's a spiritual discipline. But if you keep reading, it'll become a spiritual desire again. Then, if you get out of the habit, you've got to make it a discipline again.

I love the resolve in Psalm 119:16: "I will not neglect your word."

You can't read Psalm 119 and come to any other conclusion than this: the Psalmist loves the word. He delights in the word. He desires the word. But part of that desire is buried in this discipline: "I will not neglect your word."