To conclude our little series on discipline in which we’ve observed:

• There really is no growth in anything, even spiritual growth without discipline
• Discipline requires step-by-step instruction, not just motivation
• If people don’t act on my attempts to motivate them, it’s not motivation – it’s just words.

Finally, let’s remind ourselves that discipline isn’t a dirty word. The disciplined life is the joy-filled life!

I love this picture a friend of mine posted soon after the COVID lockdowns started. Notice her comment: “Our new normal. Looks a lot like everyone else’s.” And there are her three kids, sitting at simple desks doing their schoolwork. Except it’s not “a lot like everyone else’s” normal. It’s disciplined. Contrast comments from her friends. “My house is not that clean nor my kids that productive.”

Question: in which house is there likely to be more joy? 

For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. (Proverbs 5.23, NIV)

The fruit of the spirit is…joy…and self-discipline. (Galatians 5.23, 24)

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. (2 Timothy 1.7, NASB)