“Folly: a foolish act or idea” – Merriam-Webster Online

“¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” – Proverbs 22:15 (ESV)

Let’s face it, children have to learn. They will make mistakes and must learn from those mistakes in order to move forward. Focus on the “foolish” part of the definition above. Mistakes are bound to happen and are a vital part of the learning, however what if we could minimize the damage of mistakes?

When we remove the folly from our actions we are able to direct the learning to those areas that are beneficial. Discipline provides a path to minimizing the damage of the mistakes.

I want to be clear in that I am not saying that fun must be removed, on the contrary. The “foolish” acts where we know better or have an idea of what is better is what we are to avoid. Example of the penny in the light socket. When we know better, we are to instruct to help others avoid the shock that comes with it.

We know better in a lot of things and that helps us avoid the “foolish acts”, but are we instructing others to avoid those same acts? What would happen if we simply had an attitude of training others to avoid those acts? What if we taught discipline to drive away folly?

“This hurts me more than it hurts you.” How many of us have heard this statement from a parent or loved one? The truth is that discipline does not drive hurt, it demonstrates love.

“²⁴Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” – Proverbs 13:24 (ESV)

As parents, it is our duty to discipline our children and keep them on the “right” path as we see it. If we are not disciplining our children or we are failing them. Without discipline, we will not reach our full potential. We are wandering aimlessly expecting that “good” will just come or happen.

We are here to make sure that others are checking in with and diligent in their seeking of the path in store for them from God. That path has already been laid out for us and we are to be searching for it. That searching requires discipline to remain on the search and not give up. I am amazed when our boys indicated that they “can’t find” something in their room or other area and when I make my way to help, the location of the item is realized. I simply took the opportunity to move some things, look under other things, and exhaust the whole of the room whereas they simply peeked through the door expecting the item to jump into their hand. Truly searching and seeking requires work and that work requires discipline.

In our duty, we are to demonstrate love through disciplining others to stay the course, seek the path, and search. The ultimate path is the one that God laid out and in order to find it, you and I are going to have to keep looking. That path may be bright and shiny right now and things seem to be going well. There will also be times of ambiguity and it is in those times that we have to be disciplined.

Love is the way of Christ and discipline is the demonstration of that love.

Are you searching for the path? Are you, have you been disciplined in your search? Have others held you accountable, or are you holding others accountable to the search, driving to find again the path that God has in store? Do you realized the love demonstrated through that discipline?

How long did you go to school? Even after your formal education, how did you learn and gain true knowledge?

Learning takes time and focus. We have to be dedicated and make time for our learning and we also have to stay with it.

“¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” – Proverbs 12:1 (ESV)

My oldest son Bryson has a high school friend who, while in high school, had his welding business. Not a lot of business mind you, but he was paid to do welding. Upon graduation, he hired on with a welding company as an “apprentice” and began the journey to become a formal welder. One of the things I remember Bryson telling me about him was that it would be a while before his friend would actually do any welding in his apprenticeship. What a concept. He would have to learn over time in a dedicated role to gain the knowledge to be a success at welding.

In the mornings I sit here reading God’s Word for information and then I study to gain more understanding and still at the end of my writing, I have more questions. Learning takes time and we should dedicate the time to it to gain true knowledge.

I believe that we should be “lifelong learners” and take the time and have the discipline to truly know something. If I am not disciplined, I will not learn what is truly meant; I will only have information.

I wonder if I am really spending enough time and focus? Am I working at my learning? Are you? Will you be disciplined to gain the knowledge?

There are many temptations in life and they are largely avoidable.

“²³He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.” – Proverbs 5:23 (ESV)

We have the tools for avoiding temptation. Those tools are provided by God and one of them is discipline. When we are focused on God and His commandments, the temptations that darken our door have a hard time making their way into our lives.

Think of a dark room. The light of one single candle allows us to make our way around. We avoid tripping on the furniture. We can get to the door. But, without the candle the evil coffee table breaks our pinkie toe. The doorway into the next room suddenly moves and gets much smaller. What a difference a candle makes, now imagine 100 candles and your prospects of seeing and avoiding are much greater.

Our candles, God, provide the discipline to avoid the pitfalls that come with the darkness. The more discipline we have the more easily we are able to avoid the temptations that come at us.

When have you noticed the most temptation in your life? How are you able to avoid that temptation? Are you going down the wrong path because you cannot see the right one? Are you being led astray due to a lack of discipline?

God does not give up on us. Not 1 chance or a 2^nd or a 3^rd, we are given every opportunity to obey and live according to God’s direction.

“¹¹My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, ¹²for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12 (ESV)

Think of coaches and trainers and tutors. They may be hard on you. Their practices are there to push you and hold you accountable to make you better.

God’s discipline is no different, except more profound in that He does all of this to demonstrate His love for you. God only wants the best for us and therefore He has to make sure that we are on the right path. That path sometimes is disguised and we need hard evidence of where it is, and that is where the discipline provided by God comes in.

We as parents hold our boys to do the right thing and be on the right path and sometimes we have to discipline in order to bring them back to that path. God loves you more than you know and will take whatever action to get you on the right path, even discipline, much to our dismay.

Have you found yourself in a difficult time and wondered why? Looking back, did you wander off the path that God had for you only to be brought back through some discipline of God? Are you aware that God demonstrates His love through discipline?

Think about the having a set of rules or having guidance for things to turn out. Putting together Lego figures from the box is one of those. Reading/looking at how to put together the intricate figure as opposed to dumping in on the table will provide the opportunity to more easily find success.

“¹²Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law,” – Psalms 94:12 (ESV)

God places discipline on us to make our path easier. When following His Word, we are in a position to minimize the difficulty of putting together this thing we call life. We are still going to have difficulty getting through it (have you ever tried to complete a 500 piece Lego structure). However, the discipline/instruction we receive from God will give us the pictures to look at and the description of how to overcome.

Where are you in the area of discipline? Are you stuck trying to do it all on your own? Couldn’t you use the instruction? Are you seeing that discipline equals instruction?

I remember being a kid and as a kid of course I did things that I probably shouldn’t have. Even now, I used the word “probably” to somehow justify that I was right in doing. I am sure that most of us have felt the same way, even as adults.

We were wrong, and we deserved to be disciplined for our actions.

“¹⁷Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.” – Job 5:17 (ESV)

Discipline is for our own good. Even today as Christians, we are not without sin. We have accepted the gift of salvation and what wonderful gift it is. We are still going to make mistakes and should be disciplined for those mistakes.

I am not talking about punishment although it may seem as though that is what I am referring. Discipline is there to get us back on track, punishment is to take action against the wrong we knowingly did.

We are still doing wrong each and every day and should seek the discipline of God to get us back on track. When following Christ, we are not actively sinning, although we are sinners, and therefore punishment is not what God gives. He provides discipline to correct the course we took. We should embrace the discipline and accept the course corrections provided through that discipline.

Are you a sinner? As a sinner, we should be disciplined to get back on track, have you been? When disciplined, are you able to embrace it?

We claim to want the truth, but I suspect what we truly want is the truth that gives us satisfaction.

“³For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (ESV)

Paul is warning and encouraging Timothy of that very thing. False truth we have to look out for as it was relevant then and certainly relevant now.

I run into this at the office daily when an issue gets resolved and everyone is walking around with puffed chest declaring the victory, only to have the same issue appear again, and again, and again. The false truth is that we conquered the issue, the real truth is that we still have not addressed that which caused the issue because that would take a longer, deeper amount of effort.

We are tasked with discipleship and evangelization as Timothy was. It is our duty to heed the warning of Paul and embrace his encouragement in our task. We are to endure, to find the truth and that requires the longer, deeper effort.

I wonder, are you finding false truth that satisfies you? Are we seeking satisfaction and avoiding the longer, deeper effort to seek the truth? Are we enduring for the truth?

Winning is one of those things that is up for debate in society. I happen to be of the camp that there are winners and there are those that did not win. In the Olympics, there is competition to see who the best is (Gold, Silver, Bronze). In college athletics, there is a “National Champion”. In band there are “State Champions” and “Sweepstakes” winners. In One Act Play, there are champions. In debate there are winners.

To become a winner requires hard work, determination, drive, and oh yeah, you have to follow the rules. You have to endure the pain of workouts, practice, and study to achieve greatness, and even then the results may not immediately be in your favor so you work harder and smarter and study more.

“⁴No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. ⁵An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the firs share of the crops.” – 2 Timothy 2:4-6 (ESV)

Paul writes to Timothy and encourages him to continue to pursue pure motives. Put in the work and he will win.

Now I do want to talk about those that win through ill-gotten pursuits. The cheaters of the world, those taking short cuts, and those stamping on others to get ahead. In society they appear to win, until they are caught and stripped of their gold medal, thrown in jail for tax evasion, vilified in the media for their less than virtuous approach. These are those that did not follow Christ in their pursuits and in the short run were declared winners only to display their true colors when the light was shined on the indiscretions.

“¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. ¹¹The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; ¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” – 2 Timothy 2:10-13 (ESV)

There is a lot going on in the above verses, however I want to draw attention to verse 10 and 12a. Paul declares that endurance gives us ultimate victory. “Eternal glory” and “reign with him” are our prize for winning with Christ. We should be pursuing spiritual wins and compete, live, and drive for obeying God at every turn. When we do, we will win ultimately in heaven.

Are you caught up trying to “win” here on earth? Have you taken short cuts thinking that somehow you will win the prize? Are you willing to endure and win with Christ?

As followers of Christ we endure for and with Christ. There are times of suffering, times of comfort, and times of contentment.

“⁵For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and I we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.” – 2 Corinthians 1:5-6 (ESV)

 “¹¹Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” – Philippians 4:11 (ESV)

Think about it, preaching on the streets, persecuted for doing so, or sitting in prison Paul finds endurance. Speaking to the Corinthians and the Philippians he indicates that he suffers, in comforted, and is content. And all of these are in the name of Christ.

The suffering, comfort, and contentment are not just for Paul in his time, he shares that we are to have and will experience the same. It is up to us to stay grounded in God’s Word as he did and when we do so, we will experience the same.

When you look at it, how are you suffering, comforted, and content? Are you able to see all three states? What are you doing to endure each: Suffering, Comfort, and Contentment?