Discipline is something that people love to hate, yet sometimes truly love.  Discipline, done wrong, can be negative and hurtful, but done right, discipline can bring freedom, joy, fulfillment and abundance!

Let’s see an example of how discipline is often misunderstood, by looking at a story about a first grader who struggled with math. This boy refused to count and absolutely hated to add so his parents tried a fun online math program, then brought him to a special math school and finally hired a brilliant tutor – but all to no avail.  Finally, the parents sent him to a Christian school and after the very first day, the boy ran to his bedroom and finished his math all by himself, and got an A in math at the end of the year.  His mom was overjoyed and asked her son, “what caused you to do your math everyday?” When her little boy said nothing, she asked, “Was it the dress code at school?” No.  “Was it the discipline of the school?”  No.  “Well then, what was it?” She simply had to know. Finally the boy said, “Well Mom, on the very first day of school I noticed a statue of a guy who was nailed to a plus sign – so I knew they meant business.”  

On a more serious note, discipline done right is fantastic and life changing! That’s because discipline comes from the word disciple and being a disciple of something or someone means that you believe in, study from and try to imitate them.   For example, Jesus’ disciples were people who followed him only because they wanted to.  Yes – they had a deep desire to follow the words he spoke, his way of life and what he believed. Their desire was so deep that they were fully committed to every aspect of it.  

Discipline, done right, is something we all want for ourselves simply because it leads us to enjoy the rewards and benefits of it.  Some of these paybacks are immediate and some even last your lifetime.  I personally enjoy the discipline of making my bed first thing every morning – no matter what.  Before I go to the bathroom, before I shower or brush my teeth – I make my bed because it gives me the satisfaction of a job done right – first thing, right away, each and every day.   Even if everything goes wrong for me in any given day, I still get to crawl into a clean, organized and comfortable bed to end each day on a positive note.  You see how I am a disciple of the idea, so the discipline of making my bed follows naturally.  

Discipline can work positively in many areas of our lives, such as for my friend who goes to the gym to workout three times a week no matter what.  It is on his absolutely top priority list.  His discipline to drive to the gym, put on his workout clothes, perform his ninety-minute workout routine, get all sweaty, shower afterwards, get dressed and then drive home is important enough to him, that he chooses it over other ways to spend his time.  He chooses this discipline, he is a disciple of working out, because it makes him feel good about himself, gives him a sense of accomplishment and he likes the way his body feels afterward.  

Likewise, we all know people who are diligent and disciplined in school or their work. They work long, hard hours, mentally pushing themselves – all because they are disciples of the idea that these hours of study, toil and pursuit of their clearly defined goals will eventually pay dividends, and they are usually correct.  One of my favorite sayings that seems to go hand-in-hand with this idea of work discipline goes like this: “Hard work will beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

Notice how having discipline, being a disciple of an idea, requires deliberateness.  It requires thinking, choosing and desiring goals or outcomes.  This type of planning, choosing and idea development, done right, usually brings us higher and helps us to ultimately be the very best version of ourselves.

Perhaps this is why so many of the Bible’s books talk so positively about discipline.  The writer of Hebrews even quotes these words from Proverbs, “My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline and don’t be upset when he corrects you.  For the Lord disciplines those he loves just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:11 and Hebrews 12:5-6). Pick me, pick me!  I want to delight God by being my best!

On the other hand, we know, and God knows that Satan, our enemy only wants to steal, kill and destroy us.  He wants us to live as mere shadows of our potential so we will be no threat to him.  He loves it when we flounder from a lack of discipline, lack of direction and lack of purpose in our lives. No wonder why our loving God encourages us so many times to be strong in discipline.  Could God be any clearer than when he said, “For lack of discipline a man dies.  He will be lost because of his great stupidity.” (Proverbs 5:23)

Our enemy knows that the enemies of discipline are distraction and busy-ness which leads to excuses.  To mediocrity.  To not reaching our goals.  To living small.  To make us think all of this is normal.   One of his favorite plays is to keep us way too busy to have any focus.  Way too busy to go to the gym.  Way too busy with work or extracurricular activities to ever find time to reflect on who or what we really truly want to be.  Way to busy to find our purpose – to find our why, so we can fly.  For example, if I say that my faith is important, but I’m just too busy to spend time in prayer and reflection, perhaps I’m truly a disciple of busy-ness.  

The bottom line about discipline is simple.  When we evaluate how we have spent our time, or how we have spent our money – past tense – we’ll get a chance to really see – with the benefit of perfect hindsight – what it is that we are truly disciples of.   By doing this, we have the opportunity to rediscover what we’ve truly valued in the past, and we’ll get a chance to decide if this is the direction we want to go in our future.

So what are you a disciple of right now, today?  Answer that question and it will be the first step toward the amazing freedom of getting you where you really and truly want to go.