The Same Old Stuff

In the latter days you will understand this. (Jeremiah 30:24)

“I wish you had just forced me learn to play a musical instrument.” This is something we’ve heard from some of our adult sons. And, many of us have probably thought the same thing about something that we wished we had learned in our youth. As parents, we often find that we must cause our children some form of discomfort for their future good. They very seldom appreciate it at the time. Sometimes, children who are more mature can have more faith and trust in the idea that their parents are on the same team with them. Children who can embrace discipline for their future good and goals can achieve incredible progress.

There was a boy in my class in eighth grade who seemed to be the dunce of the class. The teacher had promised a party when everyone in the class achieved a perfect score on the spelling test in the same day. This poor fellow was the only one to miss words several weeks in a row. He became the target of much verbal abuse by his classmates. On the last day of class, someone meet him outside with a pie in the face. Yet, in his freshman year in high school, Mark seemed to be a new person. He embraced discipline and developed a personal schedule of study each day. He graduated from high school as first in his class and went on to CalTech on a full scholarship.

God seems to be speaking to Israel as a parent to a child. “Someday you will understand why this is necessary now.” He also is calling us to have faith and trust in Him even as we go through challenges, difficulties and pain. Not only is he calling us to faith and trust but He is calling us to embrace discipline. By His grace we can change and develop daily spiritual disciplines that will transform our lives and our families. Instead of whining and complaining, let’s look at the challenges in each of our lives as opportunities to grow. Let’s stop doing the same old stuff that hasn’t been working and develop new habits to grow mighty in spirit.

Project:
Choose a new discipline to build in your life.
Post your ideas and plans by adding a comment to this article.

Act while it's Today. Tomorrow never gets here.

Some ideas:
Daily Bible reading and meditation on God’s Word.
A Daily time of praise to God even in the midst of suffering.
Daily personal prayer and journaling.
Daily prayer with your spouse.
A Daily prayer walk.
A weekly fast.
Running combined with Scripture memorization.
Post your ideas and plans by adding a comment to this article.
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