Daily Discipline TDD#22

Daily Discipline

No one likes discipline!  No one!

I want to first thank you for reading and being apart of this Daily Devotional family.  I have been in a study of end times events, and will continue to do so as the days unfold.

I will return to that study, but today and tomorrow I wanted to take a break and just talk bout a coupe of things on my mind.

Yes I have missed three days in a row.  Life happened, What can I say!!?

As I thought about missing these last three days I thought about one word that came up over and over:  Discipline. 

No one likes discipline.  Self discipline is the hardest.   To discipline your self to pray, study the Bible, and witness is honestly one of the hardest things to do.

I’ve taught more in this Covid crisis than normal and after 7 weeks of it, I guess I’m just tried.  Sunday is coming and I have had a hard time gathering my thoughts for Mothers Day, let alone a daily 10 min Bible Study. 

This is supposed to be easy I’m a preacher right?  But truth be told It is not.   Teaching others in any capacity takes time and thought.  It takes work, and it takes discipline.

When I did wrong as a child, I remember as a kid my dad saying, “son this hurts me more than it hurts you.”  I was like yea right.  Today as a father to 8, I don’t say that to my kids but I do understand what my dad meant.

Discipline is hard, it’s hard work.  It is hard to be constant.  

If you were to ask a hundred parents to describe their motives and methods of discipline, you might get a hundred different answers. 

But here’s the good news: God’s Word is pretty specific about this subject.  Since the Bible is always more reliable than opinion surveys — a good principle for any issue in life, by the way — let’s take a look at what God says through the writer of Hebrews.

Hebrews 12:4-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.  5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

In this passage, we can discern a few characteristics of God’s discipline.​

1. The necessity of discipline: to deter destruction (v. 4)

The writer of Hebrews ends chapter 10 with a strong warning coupled with strong encouragement: Those who shrink back from faith and God’s will are destroyed, but those who persevere receive all that He has promised. Chapter 11 is full of examples from the men and women in Scripture, and then chapter 12 continues with the encouragement to live a courageous, faithful life. The context of verse 4 is this idea that haphazard living leads to destruction. The message is clear: Disciplined lives reap rewards.

2. The means of discipline: actions and words (v. 5)

Hebrews 12:5 tells us not to make light of God’s actions and not to lose heart at His words of rebuke. Yasar refers to disciplinary actions; yakech refers to corrective words.

As parents, that’s exactly how we are to discipline. We bring both words and actions, warnings and consequences, into our children’s situations in order to keep them on track.

3. The motive in discipline: to express love (vv. 6-9)

One of the most powerful ways to love your child is to be consistent in your discipline. And that’s really hard. We’re inclined to do whatever we can to maintain a friendship with our kids, when discipline is actually much more important.

I tend to do discipline well for a few weeks, and then find it more convenient to make compromises. Kids pick up on that in an instant.  

4. The goal of discipline: to teach obedience (v. 9)

When you teach your children godly submission, you’re teaching them to do the right thing for the right reason. You want them to get beyond the point where they say “I’ve got to” and get them to the point of obeying out of love and trust. 

Their discipline will be primarily external in the beginning, but eventually it should become internal — so integrated into their personality that it’s self-discipline rather than imposed discipline. The way you regulate how they speak and act toward other people needs to become a part of who they are so that when you remove yourself the behavior 

5. The result of discipline: short-term pain and long-term gain (vv. 10-11)

The reason we don’t like to discipline our kids is because it involves short-term pain. We’re sympathetic to their feelings, and we never enjoy hurting them. Verse 11 acknowledges the pain, saying all discipline — not some or even most, but all — seems not to be pleasant, but painful. But there’s a process involved; those who have been trained by it yield the fruit of righteousness.