Discipline For a Purpose

Hebrews 12:10,11

…but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 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.

Dr. Thomas Sowell is a world renowned economist and author. He is an expert on the history of social patterns of different racial, religious, and ethnic groups and has written that the results of how people behave is not based on which group they were born in or how much money they have but the way they were raised and how hard they apply what they have learned. He grew up in a very poor black family in the most impoverished part of New York City but ended up graduating at the top of his class at Harvard University. In an interview he once said, "Parents who insulate their children from adversity insulate them from the very thing that could give them strength."

God's training program for you will include allowing tough times into your life but He has a purpose for it. He is the perfect loving parent who is preparing you and teaching you. He wants you to gain strength in learning patience, integrity, self discipline, and loving those who are not easy to love. You can continue to resist Him and feed your feelings of self pity and even self hate over what you have done, or you can determine that you will see yourself through His eyes and believe what He says about you. He has determined that you are worth the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and He wants to give you the power to walk by faith, believing Him for your future.

But that means allowing yourself to be trained by Him. If you were to enlist in the military, you would be agreeing to undergo extensive training, first to be a soldier, then to have in depth knowledge of the equipment or weapon you would be expected to use. God loves you too much to leave you the way you are with selfish habits and lacking wisdom to make wise decisions. So He too wants to train you through discipline. Sometimes that means requiring you to wait and other times it means enduring trials that will test you like the Marines would use an obstacle course. Don't get discouraged or become angry about what you are facing. He knows every experience you will face today and they are filtered by Him to build His character into you.

If you surrender to His training it will bring peaceful results into your life. Decide today. Take one step forward by praying now and asking Him to direct your steps. Then read your Bible, listen to what His Spirit tells you, and obey what you read.