Hebrews 12:10 "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet for those trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
I want to be in shape, healthy, buff...but I want it to happen while I'm relaxing on the couch, watching a football game. I don't think that'll work. My coaches constantly preached the mantra, "No pain, no gain!" Any trainer will tell you that muscle strength increases by the muscle being torn down and rebuilt. Without tension there is no muscle tone, no growth.
It's the same in my spiritual life. The word for discipline has at its root the concept of training a child. It isn't synonymous with punishment, though it sometimes involves that. God uses all that we experience to train us (to "work us out") so that we will be in better spiritual shape, more mature. He is busy shaping us to look like Jesus!
Lord, whatever means you choose to train me today, please help me to endure it joyfully, knowing that you are making me more like Your Son in the process.
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