Discipline

So I have been thinking. Sometimes this is good and sometimes not so good. But I was thinking about discipline. It takes discipline to accomplish a number of things in life. If you want to be a good sports person, whatever the sport may be that you enjoy playing, you have to practice and practice and practice. In practicing, you learn certain skills that perhaps your opponents may already know or they may not know, but you train yourself to play to win.

When Bobby Fischer played chess he played and played and played. It was his astuteness in discovering how each piece played on the board. He studied games that he either played or watched and he learned all the right moves and strategies that it takes to win a chess game. He worked at it day in and day out. He was disciplined to win just as if he was playing a sport.

People have various work ethics. Some people work hard while other slough off any time they can. My wife is a disciplined worker. She gets up early in the morning and goes through the same routine in order to accomplish getting me up and my two sons to start our day. She feeds and waters the dog, she makes breakfast for the boys, she sets out our vitamins (chewable gummy bears, of course!), and this is all done right before she leaves to go to her office which is 20-25 minutes away. Once she arrives at work she puts her all into it. She works from the time she arrives until the time she leaves. She is disciplined and accomplishes a lot in one day.

My cardiologist told me that he wants me to start exercising. Every time he takes my blood pressure it’s right where it ought to be and I don’t even exercise! But still, he wants me to discipline myself in order that heart doesn’t fail me later in life…like next week. If I was disciplined enough to exercise, then I probably would not have the stress that plagues me at times and my cholesterol would be down and my blood pressure would be even better than what it is. But it takes discipline.

Disciplining a child accomplishes much also. It first accomplishes the setting of who’s in charge. Now that doesn’t mean that you spank your child just to show him that you are bigger than he is and you’re the one in charge. On the contrary, it establishes a boundary for you and your child. It also accomplishes the training of your child in the way that he should go. That is, he should be growing up to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. When you discipline a child, you teach him what is true and what is false. Third, discipline accomplishes a healthy lifestyle for your child. That is, he will grow up respecting others and their property. He will do what is right and good and acceptable. In essence, he will grow in stature and favor with others. Finally, you teach your child that you love them by the discipline that you show and give them.

More importantly, when you discipline your child in the way that he should go, you will teach him about God. That’s right – you’ll teach him about God. Read what the writer of Hebrews says about God:

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:4-6)

Discipline will take you far when you want to accomplish something. Discipline of your child will take him far if you recall the discipline that God gives you when you step out of line. It’s not that He is looking to zap you every time you sin. No, He loves you enough to set you on the right course. And to know what course that is, you need to discipline yourself to read and study His Word, the Bible. When you are disciplined in His Word, as a loving Father, He teaches you in the way that you should go. And, if you submit your will to Him, you shall not depart from Him but you will be there loving Him as He has loved you.