THE PARADOX OF FREEDOM

We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom ... that we are most free when we are bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters is the character of our binding. The one who would be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and by abstinence, is not free to excel on the field or the track. His failure to train rigorously denies him the freedom to run with the desired speed and endurance. With one concerted voice, the giants of the devotional life apply the same principle to the whole of life: Discipline is the price of freedom.
-- Elton Trueblood in The New Man for Our Time. Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 3.
See: 1 Co 9:25, 1 Ti 4:8, Titus 2:11.