Who Needs 40 Days Discipline And Why?

 

How successful are you in achieving so far your New Year’s resolution goal?

It is human nature to improve in life; therefore, most of us commit to the goal at the beginning of New Year known as a “New Year’s resolution.” For the most part, the New Year decision, in which a person is determined to change undesired bad habits, attitudes, or behavior.

But how many will achieve their resolution goal?

According to US News & World Report, 80 percent (%) of resolutions fail within the first six weeks of the year.

One-third of New Year’s resolutioners don’t make it past the end of January, according to Franklin Covey’s Management Firm!

Why is it so? Why can’t he or she pursue the goal? Are there any reasons for not achieving the objective? Do the mid-life crisis – people who are in the early 40s, or young adults who just started their stressful career prevented them from achieving the set goal?

How can one achieve the set goal in spite of personal hurdles with so many distractions in life? Does self-discipline is required to achieve the goal? If so, why do we need a disciplined life to achieve it? What does self-discipline mean, and how can one become a disciplined person? How many days does it take one to become a disciplined person? Is it simple and easy to change our behavior? If so, why not everyone in this world is disciplined and creating all kinds of crises in the families and communities?

There is a vague notion out there that it takes three weeks or 21 days to make a new habit. However, according to the European Journal of Social Psychology research article dated July 16, 2009, the time it takes to form a habit is not that clear-cut.

As per Elliot Berkman, a neuroscientist at the Department of Psychology, University of Oregon statement “Longtime habits are literally entrenched at the neural level, so they are powerful determinants of behavior.” Berkman also says that “People who want to kick their habit for reasons that are aligned with their personal values will change their behavior faster than people who are doing it for external reasons such as pressure from others.”

In addition, Dr. Brian King, a trained neuroscientist, and psychologist in his Psychology Today article dated January 2, 2020, titled “How long does it take to form a new habit? Stated that “There are behaviors we engage in automatically and there are those that require conscious effort.”

After careful studies, observations, and self-evaluation on this topic, and pondering the above questions, I concluded that it requires “motivation and self-discipline.” A disciplined person’s mind can achieve a set of goals despite obstacles.

If the New Year ambition of a person is to improve in life, then he or she has a serious thought of the purpose of living in this world. I think it is a personal value proposition! If that is the case, then how do we know the purpose and value without a self-disciplined life?

In my opinion, a self-disciplined life not only leads to achieving the set goal focusing on the purpose and personal value but also guides us to obtain the ultimate destination in one’s life. A disciplined life will help to eliminate bad habits with good intentions of overriding the negative effect of bad ones.

If a conscious effort is required to know the personal value to obtain the ultimate purpose and destination in our life, is there any other way or a better day to reflect on this topic than the 40 days of meditations during these lent days leading to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

I don’t think there is another way or day that I know would help us to focus on the personal value of a serious thought than the 40-day of conscious effort with a self-disciplined life.

In my opinion, this resolution is better than a New Year one! Because a self-disciplined person can become wise “true to his or her word,” but not foolish. A person is wise since he or she hears the “True Word.”

Why 40 days of self-disciplined life?

The deeper meaning for 40 days disciplined life is to reflect on one’s purpose and personal value in life. The main purpose and personal value referred to herein are receiving the “Eternal life,” which should be the first priority. Can we achieve this goal?

To understand this meaning, we need to refer to the “Holy Bible.” The following are the few reasons for the significance of number 40:

1. The Great Flood: God said to Noah “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. (Gen. 7:4 NKJV);” “And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7:12 NKJV);”
2. Abraham intercedes for Sodom: God said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty (Gen. 18:28 NKJV);”
3. Bread from heaven: “The children of Israel ate manna forty years until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan (Ex. 16:35 NKJV)”;
4. Moses on the mountain with God: “So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights Ex.24:18NKJV);”
5. Death sentence on the rebels: God spoke to Moses and Aaron “According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection (Num.14:34 NKJV);”
6. Caleb inherits Hebron: “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart (Jos. 14:7 NKJV);”
7. Death of Eli: “When he made mention of the ark of God that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years (1 Sam. 4:18 NKJV);”
8. David reigns over all Israel: “David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years (2 Sam. 5:4 NKJV);”
9. Elijah escapes from Jezebel: “So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Ki. 19: NKJV);”
10. Jehoash repairs the temple: “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash[a] became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba (2 Ki. 12:1 NKJV);”
11. Death of Solomon: “Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years (2 Ch. 9:30 NKJV);”
12. Proclamation against Egypt: “I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries (Eze. 29:1 NKJV);”
13. Jonah preaches at Nineveh: “And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown (Jnh. 3:4 NKJV);”
14. Satan tempts Jesus: “And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry (Mt. 4:2 NKJV);
15. Jesus Christ appeared: “Until the day in which He was taken up after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Ac. 1:3 NKJV);” and
16. Failure of the wilderness wanderers: “Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Heb.3:17-19 NKJV).”

As we can see from the Biblical and Spiritual point of view, 40 days are very significant for reflecting on our lives. Especially, for Christians – believers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 40 days are important and it is wise to set apart to reflect and self-examine our lives in order to live like Christ as our example.

In approximately six (6) weeks of time, believers who have seriously committed and determined to achieve the goal will prayerfully meditate on the Word of God on daily basis, and avoid all kinds of temptations, bad habits, behaviors, and thoughts with help of the Holy Spirit, which is promised to the believers.

I admire a spiritual leader, who first provided this message to our families so that now I can share it with you. It is not too late to start this disciplined life. Why wait? Get started now!

Author/Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 10, 2018, and since then this post has become one of my top-rated articles on the website analytics; therefore, I decided to repost it so that others can read it and benefit from it during this lent days.