discipline

Discipline

Mirriam Webster dictionary says discipline is the control gained by enforcing obedience or order. 

Discipline has always been kind of a dirty word to me.  It left me with the feeling that an authority (man or otherwise) was controlling me.  I did not like that one single bit. 

Not by my choice, but I felt strongly the Holy Spirit wanted me to write on discipline.  This post may be more for me than for you.  I still struggle with discipline.  To sit down and write this took me over 30 minutes…just to get started!

Here was the process (and no I don’t think I am A.D.D…or at least I thought I wasn’t.)

• Set up my laptop.
• Acquire my assisting tools…my phone and my iPad.
• Get a fresh glass of water.
• Oh, look at that pretty picture on my laptop screen.
• Hmm, maybe I will peruse the news feed to see what has been happening in the world.
• Oh, look a video on Orca whales…a whale named White Gladis is teaching the teen whales how to ram boats (fun or revenge?).
• And who names whales anyway?

You get the picture.  To try to reign myself in to write about a subject that I am struggling with was not easy.  And really?  Do we really care about discipline, is it even needed?

Unfortunately, it is important.  How do I know that? Because God addresses it in His letter to us…His Bible.  Depending on the Bible version you are reading, the word discipline can be seen anywhere between 27 to 63 times.  But the concept of discipline is in it many more times…self-control.

A good deal of the time when the word “discipline” is being used in the Bible, it is referencing being disciplined by God.  But for the purpose of this post, I’m considering the meaning as in self-control.  (As I randomly throw another M & M into my mouth.)

I was a product of the 1960s when rebellion against anything was in vogue.  There was the Viet Nam war, the “establishment”, anything our parents said we should do (whether they were right or not), even our clothing (or lack thereof) was rebellious. 

That rebellious attitude has left a lot of scars on our country…maybe on me too.  The biggest issue for me, was my not wanting to “conform” to the principles of the Bible. 

I believed all the lies that the world and the enemy told me.  The promises that having it “my way” would make my life better.  It did not. 

What made my life better was the promises of God.  He told me He would neither leave me nor forsake me and in 50 plus years of following Him, He has not.  He told me He created me to be exactly who I am even with all my foibles. AND…He loves me.

He taught me as I studied the Bible and talked with Him in prayer the art of self-control (a work still in progress).  That time in prayer and being obedient to His Word reaps benefits in my life.

 Without going into a lot of detail, those habits have given peace through a great deal of difficult situations. They have challenged me and stretched me into growth.

He taught me that He is not a genie that I can make a wish and He will make it happen…but that He will walk with me and teach me how to control my reactions to a situation.  And when I fail, He picks me up (or carries me) so that I can move forward. 

He is so loving that He has given many examples of self-control or lack of control throughout the Bible for us to learn from.  But the greatest example is in Jesus, Himself. 

Can you imagine Jesus, being God, knowing that He was to suffer an ugly painful death would come join our world just so He could open a heavenly portal for us to be with the Triune God?  (And yes, that is a rhetorical question because it is impossible for any of us to imagine being God, let alone having that great of love.)

That had to be the ultimate example of self-control…of discipline…that ever was or ever will be.  Makes my little struggles with self-control (keeping myself from popping another M & M into my mouth or from falling asleep as I type) seem like a walk in the park.

““Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NASB