Where Discipline Begins
Where Discipline Begins
My husband, Ken, a former football coach, links the concept of discipline with a tough, regimented, he-man approach to godly living. He so desires to be a man after God’s own heart. Ken longs for discipline.
Just last Sunday our pastor, Dr. John MacArthur, gave an excellent sermon on the subject. I’ll tell you, my husband was ready to hear it. With pencil poised over his notepad, he was on the edge of the pew, ready for whatever new insights from God’s Word might come his way.
Well, my tough and wonderful man of God got a real surprise.
Instead of hearing a rousing trumpet call spurring him on toward that life of discipline, he heard a truth he wasn’t quite prepared for.
“Where do we begin discipline?” Dr. MacArthur began. “Begin by cleaning your own room!”
That sat Ken back in the pew. I could almost detect disappointment in his face. I think he would have answered the call if Dr. MacArthur had asked him to jump out of an airplane, fast for two weeks, or climb a mountain in his bare feet.
But clean his room?
We laughed about it on the way home … because you should see Ken’s fishing room! That’s the little room where he keeps his rods and reels, tackle boxes and mounted trophies. Just between you and me—it’s been a mess. And he knows it! He also knows that he must begin there … putting away his tackle box, cleaning up his boots, hanging up his slicker.
For Ken, the discipline must begin with one messy room.
But I think there’s a lesson in this for all of us. It’s just possible that we—in pursuit of the disciplined life—focus our eyes on larger-than-life goals. We take on three jobs at church. We memorize not only verses, but chapters. We sell the TV or get up at 4:00 A.M. every morning for devotions.
Now, all of these are worthy goals, but it may be that we’ve overlooked more immediate and obvious things. We’ve passed over things like a clean room, or being on time, or curbing our tongue. We’ve neglected for years those “messy rooms” of our lives—those little things that may speak much more eloquently about our discipline than how much we “know.”
I took a peek into Ken’s fishing room on my way to work this morning. And you know what? It’s clean.
My tough, he-man husband who desires to be a man after God’s own heart is on his way to really being disciplined.