Our Best Life, Step 5: Discipline
Previously (link), we found this working definition of a person’s “Best Life”:
A long, fulfilling life characterized by health and well-being.
We also discovered that God has given us a clearly-defined path to a life that meets this description. King Solomon addressed this in the proverbs he wrote for his sons. These wisdom sayings would lead his children to the “Best Life” they desired, but only if the steps were applied:
Proverbs 3:1-2
My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands;
for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being.
King Solomon’s Best Life teaching involves both Do’s and Don’ts…sometimes within the same teaching, in order to provide contrast. His first step involved our reputation (link). His second step looked at how we can make sure our lives are heading in the right direction (link). His third step was about our health and healing (link). His fourth step discussed how to properly handle having an abundance (link). King Solomon’s fifth and final step to our Best Life is something we have a love/hate relationship with: discipline.
If we’re honest, we’ll all agree that we love the results of discipline, but we don’t necessarily like receiving discipline.
No one who is at the “top of their game” – whether that “game” is business, sports, relationships, money, or anything else – is there by accident. You can have tons of talent, even more talent than anyone ever born…but if you’re not disciplined in how you use and develop that talent, you will never reach your Best Life full potential.
But here’s the real kicker, probably the thing that bugs us most about discipline – you can have self-discipline, and that’s super-beneficial, but if you don’t have an outside authority to coach, correct, shape, and even rebuke or punish you…then you’ll have a ceiling that you can’t break through on your own.
The top athletes all recognize the need for a personal trainer. The best CEOs bring in coaching consultants. When our relationships breakdown with our spouse or our kids, we find a counselor. Having a financial planner is key to winning long-term with money. Could each of these people go at it alone? Sure, they could. But they wouldn’t be their best. Their progress would slow to the level of their own education and experience.
Think about it – Every one of these “successes” pays their hard-earned money and chooses to submit to another person’s authority, because they believe that person can help them reach their full potential. They are willing to be guided and disciplined by an outside authority so they can become a bigger success than they ever could have achieved on their own.
The question for us as believers is “Do we view God the same way? Do we trust His guidance and discipline, or do we avoid His correction because we’d rather do it our way?”
However, if we’re going to live our Best Life, if we’re going to reach our full potential…King Solomon tells us not only Who to turn to, but what His motivation is toward us:
Proverbs 3:11-12
Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline;
for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom He delights.
God doesn’t just discipline us because He sees potential in us, His motivation comes from His love for us. The parallel King Solomon cites is a powerful one – a good father lovingly provides instruction and discipline so that his son will become the fully-realized man that he could be. God’s approach is the same with us. God loves and delights in us, and as such, He disciplines us for our own good.
Our Best Life doesn’t happen by accident…it’s not something we’re going to just fall into or someone else is going to provide for us. Achieving our Best Life truly is a partnership with God…and that means we’re signing up for His discipline.
Keep Pressing,
Ken