I know discipline. We had lots of it in our house when I was a kid. Some of it wasn't fair; it wasn't right. Other parts, though, were. I didn't like discipline for whatever the reason.
My brother and I had to work extremely hard; harder than other kids our age. We had 26 yards to mow during the summer and passed sale bills door to door in freezing cold and dark evenings after school. It took the two of us two nights in a row after school to cover every house in the entire town....for one penny per house delivery.
Discipline is like cholesterol. There is the good kind and then the bad. I can't think of many times any child receives correction and likes it. Discipline--done God's way--is always beneficial.
Discipline's purpose is to train. It is a combination of physical and mental gym where one works out to develop a most necessary character which will endure the rough days. Victory over the long haul is the goal. Undisciplined people quit. Those who trained in hardship cross the finish line.
Church isn't easy. Sticky wickets and gnarly circumstances make for challenging times. What to do and how to handle may be the questions. Yet one question does not cross our minds, Shall we quit when the going gets tough?
I know shepherding can't be easy. Preaching isn't always. Yes, teens can become bummed due to rudeness of others. Ministry leaders surely become weary of vain excuses of non-commitment. When each "thorn in the flesh" gives us reason to keep moving then we begin to develop that which God intended all along; vision to see the yeses in the midst stress and difficulty.
Read II Corinthians 12:5-11. Note the thorn in the flesh wouldn't leave and Paul used such to find reason to be glad. America and the American church is getting too soft because we are abandoning the very thing which will launch us into our greatest effectiveness.
Our days are filled with critics, disappointments, and discouragement. We have concluded we don't need the discipline criticism provides; that we don't have to take it.
Well we do have to take it. We do have to take the insults. We do have to take the abuse and neglect. It is a part of the gym's training machines.
The church is fun and quite exciting. This isn't all there is to church for we are still called to live from the tedious discipline of the cross. Don't run. Hold on. Endure. Life is with us and for us and in us.
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