“Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline — which all receive — then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.” Hebrews 12:7-13
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Looking at the Grand Canyon and being told to cross over, who wouldn’t want to take the easy way, the quick way, the efficient way? What child when being told to clean their room doesn’t want to simply snap their fingers ( a la Mary Poppins) and find t he task has completed itself? What person, anxious for something yet to come in the future, wouldn’t wish for a fast-forward button for life in order to get there more quickly?

But that’s not life. That’s not reality. There’s no such thing as the quick way over the canyon, the speedy way through a task or a method for pressing forward the hands of time that does not involve work, waiting or discipline. What we want ‘now’ we most often cannot have ‘now.’ We must wait, we must work, we must try for, struggle, learn through, and continue pressing forward to achieve. A goal easily attained is likely little fulfilling or worth an effort. A goal that requires discipline, hard-won, creates ownership, passion and a desire to share in the joy of accomplishment.

When it comes to faith, it is no different. Faith requires discipline. Following Jesus requires effort. It is not simply a spoken word and a pledge made, hand across the heart. It is a giving up of life, a handing over of the reins, and a marathon to be run. It means death to self, a pressing on toward the goal and a carrying of our cross. Salvation is free, yes, it comes only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ Himself, but it does come at the cost of following and a denial of our old ways of thinking, selfishness, and greed. And when we fall short, when our eyes come off of Jesus, we must expect a goading, a pressing and correction. Done out of love, the Father desires to see all His children conforming to the image of His Son. That is the plan. That is His will, that we would strive in His power to abide by His will so that His glory may be achieved in us, and that process must come through an effort which derives from the passion He places in our hearts that is seeded in His Word. It is all His doing, but it must be carried out in our lives. It is all His power, but it must be worked out in us. Lazy, apathetic responses to faith create, not a new heart and a steadfast spirit, but a kind of walking death and an ineffective life. And so we should be thankful as God continues to keep us from being us, when He disciplines us, corrects us and trains us in righteousness. It is love that He would do this. It is compassion that He would train us. It is goodness and holiness He desires in us, and that will come by effort, by work and by trial. It was not easily bought and so it will not be easily worked out in us. Sin does not give up so easily and pride is not quick to lay down and die.

If we do not seriously consider His authority, His will and His way, then our faith will never take root, and it will wither under the heard ships of life. But if we trust in Him, if we abide in His love, then our lives will echo the life of Christ, and our efforts to GoLove in His Name will not be in vain. Press on, Christian. Listen to the Father’s instruction and discipline with understanding and the grace that He affords. He must become greater, we must become less.