Hebrews 12:11 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.

This whole section is very familiar and deeply loved, so I asked the Lord what He wanted to say through it tome today, and this is what He indicated to me. The thing is, discipline is essential for every individual and every society, if anything worthwhile is to be accomplished. We see the results of a failure to discipline all around us. Things have gotten so bad that in Canada, parents were literally jailed for spanking their children! We prize (or say we do) self-discipline, but that doesn’t come automatically. We bemoan addictive behaviors of all sorts, but how do we avoid those? There are indeed genetic predispositions to some kinds of addictions, but as Bill Whittle pointed out, if you ask someone who has never tried drugs why they haven’t, the most likely answer will be, “My mom would have killed me.” The expression, “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” is heard in relation to racial groups, but it applies to parenting as well. Generally speaking, we will get the kind of behavior we allow. That’s the reason for the success of what are called “military academies,” schools where “problem children” are treated as though they were in the military, with strict regulations and discipline. It would be difficult to calculate the number of people who have been rescued by such schools. I know a few personally myself. This is closely related to what is called “broken windows policing,” where aberrant behavior is dealt with at a low level before it escalates into something more serious. The rewards of such discipline are countless. The writer here calls it “a harvest of righteousness and peace.” The Japanese indicates that’s inner peace, not just a lack of external conflict. The numbers of people who lack those today are indeed beyond counting! We need to recognize, allow, and value discipline if individuals and society are to be rescued from the path to destruction.

My parents weren’t excessive, but they did discipline me. They set limits which weren’t constrictive, but they were to be followed. I can’t say I didn’t go over the boundaries at times, but not far, and I wasn’t comfortable with it. I am deeply grateful. I didn’t do a perfect job with my own children, certainly, but they are both productive members of society, and I am grateful for that as well. As a pastor I am a father figure to many, and church discipline has always been an awkward area for me. I have seen churches, and believers, destroyed by excesses in both directions, and I know I don’t have sufficient wisdom in myself to get it right. Paul had to deal with that sort of thing a lot, and much of it had to be done long-distance, by letter. However, that had the advantage of leaving a record that we can read, and I need to be fully familiar with his example. Right now, self-discipline is my biggest issue, particularly with retiring from secular teaching and so having fewer external demands on my time. I am to seek the Lord at every turn, following His schedule and recognizing that my time, my life, belong to Him, for His glory. That is righteousness and peace, as this verse says.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Use of time is very much on my mind these days. Help me indeed use every moment as You desire, knowing that is the path of greatest blessing for me and those around me. Thank You. Praise God!