Everyone loves to talk about discipline. Discipline in schools, discipline for your kids, church discipline. Right? Actually no one likes to talk about it. I am only talking about it because God is convicting me of a lack of discipline in one area of my life. For the official record. I have gained more discipline over the last year of my life than at any other time before. It is a direct result of working under my Senior Pastor, one Dr. Daryl Harbin. He believes in discipline, and because of him I have found out that I really do to. I always thought I believed in discipline. You know I try to discipline my children and those under my ministry if necessary, but through his guidance I have learned what is truly important. Self Discipline. I am now a disciplined creature of habit as it involves my work here at church. My regular everyday, weekly, and monthly tasks generally go off like clockwork. I dare you to keep me from blowing the sidewalks at the church for a day.
I will not sleep at night if it does not get done. It is a lesson I will take with me the rest of my ministry, and I have Preacher(as I call him) to thank for that. Please do not get me wrong, my parents believed in discipline too. It is just a different animal when you are talking about working in a position where you spend a great deal of time with little or no supervision.
When I began to think about and look at discipline in Scripture I realized that it is forever tied to one thing.....submission. There cannot be true discipline without submission. To have disciplined children they must submit to their parents. To have disciplined employees, they must submit to their boss. To have disciplined Christians we must be fully submitted to Christ. God believes in disciplining His children if they cannot discipline themselves.
Rev 3:19-Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
The most wonderful thing about true spiritual discipline is that we cannot do it on our own. Jesus gives us the power. Without it, we might look disciplined from the outside, but inside we are filled with chaos. Sin is the result of a lack of self discipline. Every sin you can think about began with a small seed of dropping God's standard of discipline in our lives.
Just so you know that I know of what I speak, let me enlighten you to what I mentioned up top. My discipline involving my school work has been terrible. I had a good reason to fall behind, but there was no reason for it to remain an issue after the situation was resolved. My computer blew up. Since I am a creature of habit, it became exceedingly difficult for me to get my work done. I have an office computer, but I enjoy being at home near my wife at least while working. Probably because she is pretty and she brings me food.
Anyways, I am getting back on track but it was a simple lack of discipline that led me down the path. A few extra hours in my office would have prevented me falling behind, but it was too much for me to change right then.
I believe Jesus cares about our level of discipline. Are we disciplined enough to stay in His Word even when we do not feel we are getting something from it. Are we disciplined enough to persevere in prayer in those times when God feels far away? Are we disciplined enough to walk away from sinful situations? It is food for thought and prayer because dropping our guard in one area will eventually bring down our self discipline in every area. Have a blessed day and weekend.
Bro. Russell
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