As we start November, my thoughts are directed towards Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving should remind us of the commitment and discipline that is necessary for liberty.
The Pilgrims came to America because they were committed to living for and worshipping the Lord based on the Bible. They had a commitment which caused them to forsake their homeland and friends and risk their lives in order to live for the Lord. These Pilgrims considered their endeavor to be similar to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacbo's (Hebrew 11:3).
Having obtained liberty to worship the way they saw in the Bible, they realized they needed to maintain their liberty. The Pilgrims and the Puritans also realized discipline was necessary to maintain their liberty, so they founded the first college Harvard to train ministers. Discipline is required to maintain the liberty.
The Christian life is similar. In order to obtain liberty from sin, a person must make a commitment to Jesus Christ and get saved (Acts 2:38, II Corinthians 5:17). After salvation, believers must discipline themselves to pray and seek the Lord in order to maintain that liberty. Jesus said that we must stay connected to Him to bring forth fruit (John 15:4). We must also agree and discipline ourselves to work with the Lord to accomplish His will (Matthew 11:28-30).
