Greetings, 

Scripture has some blunt comments about discipline. 

"Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray," (Proverbs 10:17).

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid," (Proverbs 12:1).

Yikes! I don't want to be thought of as stupid. But, doing hard things is… well, hard. Spiritual, physical, educational, financial or emotional discipline, all of it is hard. The work that it takes is often arduous, boring, long and, in general, bleh.  

We know that being a disciplined person is important and we are far more fruitful and we feel better when we do right things and keep our lives in order. There are a number of lies our flesh, Satan, and the world try to convince us of in order to lead us away from doing the hard things. Lies such as, "we would be better off eating unhealthy because it is quicker and less stressful" than choosing to eat healthy and preparing good food. Or, "Sunday is the only day that I get to myself" and we plan activities or come up with excuses that keep us from fellowship with other believers. We slowly fall out of the routine and church becomes something that we use to do. 

Desire or “want to” is the driver for discipline. If we are desperate enough for change, we will become motivated to make changes no matter how hard they are. Desperation leads to devotion and devotion leads to habits. Often, our desperation leads us to make a temporary change in behavior. Even after we see some results, we could decide we are more dedicated to a lifestyle of convenience than we are to the systemic change that we recognize is needed but is hard to obtain. I totally get that! I would much rather eat the cookie now and risk dying at a younger age than exercise restraint or exercise at all. 

There are some really hard things that God calls us to do. He asks us to be faithful and obedient in many areas of our lives. I am certain that you know in what areas you are being challenged to be faithful. I encourage you to pray and plan. Pray that the Lord would reveal what hard things God wants you to work on. After that, make a plan to take faithful action and seek accountability to do those hard things. Our family is choosing to do some hard things in order to be faithful and healthy. It is not easy. It is hard. But I am sure the rewards will be great. Please pray for us to be strong and courageous and love discipline, and we will be praying for all of you as well!

Love you, 

Chris