Day 13 of Lent: Discipline
Our concept for today hardly ever has a positive notion. If you hear the word discipline you probably think of what your parents had to do to you when you were not behaving or perhaps you’ve even been disciplined as an adult. Our verse for today helps us understand the very positive end result which discipline seeks to achieve.
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)
Did you catch the very positive and happy word at the end of the verse which discipline seeks to achieve – peace?
So often we think of discipline as punishment and that is one part of it. But if you talk about having self-discipline, that brings about a completely different understanding. That means that you are trying to teach yourself how to keep on task or be timely or focus on the task at hand.
For each of us discipline means a different thing as we each have our unique things we struggle with.
This verse though is not just talking about self-discipline in regards to habits which help us better achieve results or accomplish goals. It is also talking about self-discipline when it comes to our spiritual life and making sure we are keeping our spiritual life on track. Do you need to be more self-disciplined about your daily personal Bible reading? Perhaps you need some real self-discipline to avoid a temptation or trying to live out your faith more in your daily life. That’s what our verse means by “produces a harvest of righteousness”.
The writer to the Hebrews obviously understood the challenges of self-discipline, but he also realized the very positive and blessed end result. May God help you not to give up especially on spiritual self-discipline that you might receive the blessing of peace which comes from it.