Difference Between a Discipline and a Virtue

A spiritual discipline is a spiritual practice that you do. It is training one’s spiritual faculties and moral character. Prayer, for example, is a discipline, it is something that you do.

A virtue is a disposition that results in behavior that is good, beneficial, and pleasing to God it is the quality of one’s character.

The Difference

Disciplines are something you do, virtues are something you are. Humility is a virtue, humbling yourself is a discipline.

Although they are different, they are related. Humbling yourself leads to one gaining the virtue of humility. Acts lead to dispositions. This is important.

Sowing and Reaping

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

Published by

Jay Forrest

Dr. Jay N. Forrest is an Ordained Interfaith Minister and Certified Meditation Teacher who guides others on the Mystic Way through contemplative teaching and interspiritual insight.Since becoming a Christian in 1983 and earning his Doctorate in Ministry, Jay has served within a rich range of Christian traditions—including Pentecostal, Charismatic, Baptist, Methodist, and Liberal Catholic churches—and provided compassionate care as a Hospice Chaplain.His journey has also led him through catechism studies with the Orthodox Church in America, minor orders in the Liberal Catholic Church, and over two decades of Buddhist study and practice. His path is one of depth, integration, and a lifelong dedication to the transformative power of spiritual practice.



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