Ecclesiastes 3.9

What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

As our vision of the good life becomes firmly fixed in our minds, we will take up whatever disciplines are necessary in order to gain that vision. “Disciplines” constitute the second (right) leg of our worldview triangle.

Every worldview prescribes a raft of disciplines which adherents must master in order to make progress toward their vision of the good life. Those disciplines are of various kinds. What they do for us, in essence, is enable us to structure the time of our lives to that we are always oriented toward and (hopefully) making progress in realizing the good life we seek.

So, for example, in the secular and materialist worldview, the most important disciplines might be something like get and education and get a job. We have to work for what we want, for the most part, and education helps to prepare us for the best possible job, which will allow us to gain the most of the material benefits we seek.

Other disciplines also come into play. We need to learn some relational skills, because we’ll need other people to help us in our quest for the good life. We have to manage our money and not simply spend every dime we make. After all, we won’t always be able to work. We will also need to reserve some of our time for relaxation and entertainment. These constitute a kind of “sampling” of the good life as we press on in our journey toward it. They are part of the good life, but, more importantly, they portend the good life for which we are always learning, working, and relating.

Every worldview has disciplines, and all the particular raft of disciplines we take up will depend on our vision of the good life, what and how clear and compelling it is. Like that vision, disciplines can be assessed and adjusted as need be in order to keep us on track for the good life as we envision it.

Act: Think about the time of your life. As you do, what disciplines appear most frequently in your time? Is there any “discipline” of wasting time? Are all the disciplines of your life clearly focused on your vision of the good life? Talk with a Christian friend about these questions.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.