I’ve been drinking Diet Coke for as long as I can remember - Probably since the early 2000’s. I was a lazy kid, who rarely exercised and had a desk job that took 45min to get to every weekday, one-way. I figure, if I was going to drink soda, this way, I won’t feel the calories! (Yeah, right). It soon turned into something close to an addiction… over the past couple of years, I have tried to quit, only for that effort to be fleeting. I’d last a week or two, to maybe a couple of days. The separation was difficult - headaches, no energy & fatigue. I really thought that there was never going to come a time when I would ever live without Diet Coke.

And then I realized, after working out 2hrs a day, 5-6 days a week, that my gut was not really slimming down… well, down to the level it should be with all of my working out. Everyone had said, "if you just got off Diet Coke, you’d drop more fat", but I didn’t listen. Diet Coke was my "life blood". Until I did realize that I was wasting my time at the gym, all those hours of effort, 2500+ calories burned a week, was not making as much impact if I got off the diet stuff.

So, for a third time, I tried to cut out Diet Coke. I was expecting pain for the first week, and bumps and probably falling off the wagon 1-2wks into it. And I experienced most of that… I was cranky because my I was going thru withdrawals, tired because of this, and as much as I wanted a Diet Coke so badly, I noticed my stomach starting shrink over the next 2-4 days. THIS was the motivation that I needed to continue staying off of Diet Coke. And, although I’ve lost track, I want to say that I’ve been a month off the stuff and I don’t miss it.

Now, I won’t lie - I tried it 3 or 4 times (call it a crutch - I was having a tough moment and "needed my drug"). What’s funny is, for all but one time, I took a sip and had to dump it bc it tasted like battery acid. The last time I tried it, I drank it but it was only half cup, and the cup was full of ice so… that’s progress. But that was it - haven’t tried it since and I don’t miss it.

Experts say that it takes 30 days to form a habit. Initiative and effort are crucial, but motivation is just as necessary. At the beginning of every habit-breaking race, most people believe that it’ll be easy. But they’re wrong. Just look at any gym at the beginning of January… and the end of January. Without judgement, people fall off the wagon too often.

How often do we restart our early morning quiet times? More frequent prayer times? .

I think that spiritual self-discipline isn’t a pursuit that we can force into habit. Think about it - If we could, then there would be little need for the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We can’t have spiritual self-discipline without the Holy Spirit as it is God’s gift & work in each of us. So…. That leaves us asking: "How do we become more self-disciplined in our spiritual lives?"

The one thing we have to remember is - where is our drive, effort & motivation coming from? If it’s from us (beit, experience, loss, fear, pain, …), then it won’t really last. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not minimizing the pain that we each have gone thru, when it comes to why we came to God. Each of our experiences have been what has driven us to realize how empty our lives our, who fruitless this world is, without God as the main focus. In order to become more spiritually self-disciplined, we need to stop taking the Holy Spirit’s role as this source of this life-changing power, and rely on the strength that God puts in us.

	You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
	2 Timothy 2:1

Just like my desire for a flatter stomach was to cut out Diet Coke (and soda) completely, our motivation in the practice of spiritual self-discipline will continue to be in vain & fail if it isn’t coming from the Holy Spirit. Our motivation to draw closer to God, should come from God. He should be the only reason, because He will give us the strength to "run with endurance the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)