Another important ingredient for success in all life endeavours is discipline. It is as important as wisdom. You may be a Solomon in wisdom but if you are a Samson in discipline, you will not make it. Your wisdom will become foolishness because unused wisdom is in fact worse than folly. Wisdom is the ability to know what to do under a specific situation, but discipline is the ability to bring or train yourself to doing it. You see how related these two ingredients are. They are very important.
Many christians are not balanced. They do something to the extreme and leave others out completely. That is not discipline. It is doing the right thing at the right time and at the rate it should be done. One who is not living or walking in discipline is like a child. You cannot commit any serious thing into his hand. He cannot handle it. It is like handing an automatic revolver over to a child of four years. In the first place, he may use it against himself. He is not disciplined in mind to understand the functions of the gun he is handling. He may then end up using it against himself.
Paul said that a child (an undisciplined man) will always talk and do things as such. There is a direct correlation between the child and one without discipline. The general comment is that he is childish or behaves like a child. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11,
"When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things"
In summary, he is saying I was not disciplined to know what to do when I was a child. It was beyond me as it is with every child; but when I grew, I disciplined myself to be full grown.
Many Christians are yet to graduate from babyhood. They are not childish in physique but in mind. They cannot harness the power of will to do the right. They allow their lives to go haywire. That is why things happen to them anyhow. Such people cannot think of being successful. They lack discipline. They are childish at heart. Paul says in Galatians 4:1,
"Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all"
Note that he says an HEIR! He is lord of all. His father has given him the right to all he left behind. He has the title-deed. He has all things credited to him but as long as he is a child, he is just like the servant. His childish state does not permit or enable him to enjoy the pleasure of things that rightly belong to him. This is one reason why you cannot enter into God’s success plan for you. You are an heir to success but if you don’t graduate from babyhood, you cannot enjoy it. You will continue to live in failure like servants. But if you will dare to discipline yourself you will enter into the privileges and pleasure of your heirdom.
Ecclesiastes 10:16 says,
"Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning"
A country whose leaders are undisciplined will see woes. They will suffer natural disgrace and international humiliation. The leaders will behave anyhow. They can spend all the money on things that are not profitable. And you can be sure that such a nation can never succeed, at least, not under indisciplined leaders.
Discipline is crucial to success. You have to know what to do, do it at the right time and at the rate required. David fell a victim of indiscipline. And he had to pay for it dearly.
In 2 Samuel 11:1-2, the Bible says,
"And it came to pass, after the year was ended at the time when kings go to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem"
If you read this story further, you will notice that David was not expected to tarry at Jerusalem at this time. He was to be at the battle front. "At the time when kings go to battle ..." But David tarried in Jerusalem. He was not doing the right thing at the right time.
He was king of Israel. He succeeded Saul who lost that same throne on the ground of folly. David here is walking in indiscipline. He was not doing the right thing. Reading through Chapter 11 and 12 of 2 Samuel, you see what indiscipline brought upon him. Verses 2 and 4 of chapter 11 says,
"And it came to pass at eventide that David arose from his bed, and walked upon the roof of the King’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon... And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in unto him and he laid with her ..."
You can see the chain of events. Indiscipline, idleness, adultery, and if you read further, you will see murder. He arranged all manners of evil and, eventually, arranged and killed Urriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to conceal his sin.
God was highly displeased with David. Verse 27 says,
"... But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord"
It was a product of indiscipline.
Most people who are in some form of pitiable condition today would have been spared the trouble had they some basic discipline in life. It is important for you to get this straight. Your success will always elude you until you begin to mature in discipline. Train your body and mind to be subject to the discipline of the Spirit by the word of God. Mortify the deeds of your flesh through the Spirit.
You have great potentials that can be harnessed. But you cannot do that in careless circumstances. You need to discipline yourself to pave your way to success. Have control over your time. This is very important. A lot of people say time is against them. If you ask them what they have done with the time available to them, they cannot point to anything. They are thieves of their time.
Plan out your time and use it wisely. It is not wise to allow things to happen just as they come. Make a plan of action. Plan very carefully and stick to your plan as much as possible. Set time and achievement goals. These will help you manage your time. Make positive realistic plans. Do not follow after trivialities. Make concrete plans and follow them. God is interested in discipline. You won’t enter your success complex without discipline.
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