I hate discipline, but I love its fruits! Putting discipline into my life is no fun. I'd much rather do what I feel like doing, when I feel like doing it. But I've lived enough years to know that the fruits of discipline are very delicious. How are you doing in the discipline department? 

 

The topic of discipline is one of those non-emotional subjects which doesn't bring tears to anyone's eyes or generate a great deal of response. Ughh—who wants to hear about discipline? But to ignore the need for discipline in our lives is to invite disaster. Proverbs says "fools despise wisdom and discipline," and "he who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame." It also tells us that a person who ignores discipline despises himself, and that a person can die from lack of discipline!

 

But Proverbs 6:23 says that "the corrections of discipline are the way to life." The Book of Proverbs is an excellent book to guide us in the necessary disciplines for a fruitful life. In the first chapter, verse 2, we see that the whole book of Proverbs was written for "acquiring a disciplined and prudent life." 

 

Does discipline come easy or hard for you? Maybe it's easy in some places and hard in others. Lately I've really been working with the Lord to install some needed disciplines in small areas. Well, they look small to me and perhaps to others, but they're not really small to God.  

 

I kept rationalizing: "Well, I'm really a very disciplined person in the important areas; these are just little nits that don't amount to anything." Or the rationalization which says, "Look, you're so disciplined in most areas of your life, you deserve some time off for good behavior." 

 

But that lack of discipline is not just a little shortcoming on my part; it is rebellion against God's authority in those areas of my life. James tells us that "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." So, let's call lack of discipline what it is—even in those small areas—SIN. That way we get God's view of the situation, and we're more likely to get serious about disciplining ourselves.

 

No, discipline is not a glamorous topic, but it certainly is critical to our everyday lives. The longer you fail to put needed disciplines in your life, the harder it is to do and the more that lack of discipline causes problems for you and others in your life.

 

Let's talk about some typical areas where discipline is lacking for many of us. First, there's procrastination: putting off to a later time what we could and should do right now. Here's a motto that we should all adopt: Do it right and do it now! That's a totally biblical principle.

 

We're told to do what our hands find to do with our whole heart, and Jesus warned his disciples that they must work the works of God now, as long as it is still day. Do it right and do it now! Many people are dying for lack of this discipline. Their talents are wasting, their goals are unfulfilled, their plans and programs never get off the ground, because they keep procrastinating.

 

What have you been procrastinating about? Why don't you do it right and do it now, and get it off your mind? You'd be surprised how much those procrastinations are keeping you from being optimally effective. All those little things that are hanging around, yet to be done, just gum up the works and cloud your mind and keep you bogged down. You may be dying for lack of discipline in this area of procrastination.

 

Another area where I see lack of discipline in many people is that of being faithful—doing what you said you'd do. If you're a person who tends to let commitments slide, you're developing a reputation for being unfaithful, untrustworthy, undependable. Whether it's in business or your own personal life, that's a very bad reputation to have.

 

Paul told the Corinthians that "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." This is not an option for us Christians; faithfulness is a requirement. 

 

It may be something as small as returning a phone call or getting to work on time or putting something in the mail as you promised, but we need to be faithful in everything. And the little things are equally as important as the big ones. We are to acknowledge God in all our ways, even the most minute ones. 

 

Proverbs 5:23 tells us that we can die for lack of discipline in our lives. Can you think of some areas where you are shriveling up and suffering loss from lack of discipline? For example, many of us lack discipline in our eating habits and how we care for our bodies. This is no small matter with God. Your body houses the blessed Holy Spirit, if you're born from above, and that house should be as fit as possible. 

 

If I don't eat properly and exercise regularly, I'm going to have a body that functions below its capacity, and that will severely limit my ability to be effective for God. Remember, we're going to be held accountable for all the resources that God has given to us. If we've been given a good healthy body and a good mind, but fail to maintain that body so that it runs on all cylinders, God is going to hold us accountable for our poor use of that resource.

 

I try to keep remembering that I don't belong to myself; I've been bought by Christ and I belong to him. This body is not mine to do with as I please; I am a bondservant, and this body belongs to my Master. 

 

Another discipline that is sadly lacking in most Christians is the discipline of spending quality and quantity time with God each day. We think our lives are so full that we can't possibly put another hour into the schedule. Many Christians think if they spend five or ten minutes a day reading their Bible and praying, they've done God a big favor.

 

My friends, this discipline is so very needed in our lives. And it is discipline. It isn't living under law, but it is discipline. It is pushing your feet out of the bed and putting them on the floor, regardless of how you feel. Elizabeth Elliot wrote: "We make a huge joke about our self-indulgence and treat with amusement our failure to pull ourselves out of bed early enough to get to work without a hectic rush.” But it's no joking matter. 

 

Spending consistent, quality time with God is where it all begins. And it requires discipline. I can assure you that people who are spiritually strong and mature don't have mystical powers; they are simply dedicated to being disciplined in their walk with God.

 

Discipline can be learned. You can't blame your lack of discipline on your personality or your circumstances. Any of us can be disciplined if we want to be and we go to God for strength and help. But it will take time. I want to encourage you not to give up easily, because new disciplines simply take time.

 

That's because change of any type is difficult for all of us. We resist change. Studies tell us that it takes 21 days to make a new habit and 65 days to get rid of a bad one. You have to hang in there, and during those days, you need reminders and special focus on that area of discipline that you're working on.

 

So, what can we do to put needed disciplines into our lives? First, make a list of the areas where you know your discipline needs improving. Then, find a verse that relates to each one of them. For example, if you need discipline in the area of striving for excellence and doing things right, Ecclesiastes 9:10 is a good verse to memorize and pray into your life daily. It says: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..." 

 

Now, while continuing to pray about these areas of needed discipline, focus on one of them and decide on a plan of action to help you change. If you need discipline to get up earlier so that every morning is not a mad dash, make a plan: Set your clock earlier, put it across the room so you have to get up to turn it off, ask a good friend to call you in the morning and bug you. There are ways to put that discipline into your life, and if you will pray about it and then put an action plan in place, you'll start to see some changes.

 

Don't bite off more than you can chew. Set small goals for yourself and work toward them. Getting up ten minutes earlier is better than nothing, and once you've done that, you can set your goal for 15 or 20 minutes. But don't keep dying for lack of discipline in your life. You don't need to. God, who has called us to be disciplined, will enable us to put those needed disciplines in our lives if we will get serious about it. 

 

But remember: Discipline doesn't just happen. We have to work at it. And of course, we have to work most in the areas which come hardest for us. You'll find one area much harder for you than others. But God has the power and grace to enable all of us to have the needed disciplines in our lives, if we're willing to pray about those areas, and then start working on them.

 

So, what can we do? Pray about it daily; find scripture that relates to it and memorize that scripture. Quote it daily and pray it into your life. And then, step by step, put a plan of action in place to help you put that discipline in your life—a little bit at a time.

 

I would also encourage you to read Proverbs daily. There are 31 chapters, so it's easy to read the chapter that corresponds with the day of the month. The second verse in Proverbs tells us that one of the reasons Solomon wrote these proverbs was to help us acquire a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair. And they do help. I can't tell you how many times God has spoken to me in the discipline department through the Proverbs. So, read a chapter everyday.

 

Jesus said in John 13:17: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."  Most of us have large amounts of knowledge and tons of good intentions. But we've missed the blessing that comes by doing. We are blessed not by what we know, not by our intentions, but by what we do. 

 

Paul wrote to Timothy that he should discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. Sometimes we think of godly people as people who are angelic, otherworldly beings, not like us. But, my friends, godly people are people who have put consistent disciplines into their lives, and simply stuck to it. God intends that all his children should live godly lives. But without discipline in our lives, godliness will not be our trademark.

 

Where is your discipline weak? In what areas are you dying for lack of discipline? Remember, he who ignores discipline despises himself. You do yourself great harm every day you refuse to put those needed disciplines in your life. I pray you'll get them going this very day. You will be blessed when you do.