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Harboring the right conditions for growth or discipline is hard work. Anyone who has gone through this process would agree with the Hebrew writer who said, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.”
I must confess that my discipleship under Jesus Christ is more like a slave-master relationship. I am not always happy about the work that I’ve been given and quite often I do not appreciate how the LORD does His part. What often drives me to take the next step is the promise of peace. Listen to what the Hebrew writer says: “Later on, however, [discipline] produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). The Hebrew writer doesn’t just promise peace, but “a harvest of peace.”
In this chaotic and stress filled world, who doesn’t want peace? Who will blame me for doing things for the sake of comfort? I crave it and this is what I am eyeing and pursuing.
Peace, however, is not the goal of discipline. Neither is righteousness, which is the other thing the Hebrew writer mentions. Righteousness and peace are really the bountiful fruits of discipline. But for this restless, spiritual adolescent, peace is my goal.
In the big picture, God’s goal is for us to participate in His Holiness (Hebrews 12:10). In other words, God wants us to be Godlike. God desires His children to grow up to become like Him. This is God’s joy. Growing up into Godliness should be the goal of discipline, so God wants us to fix our eyes on this. The Hebrew writer says,
…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…who for the joy set fore Him endured the cross, scorning its shame…consider Him who endured such opposition…so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. –Hebrews 12:1-3
To accomplish God’s goal in my life, I have a brutal personal trainer named Fear. Fear is not the best trainer I have, but he sees to it that no bitter root grows in me. He pushes me to the Grace of God (Hebrews 12:15). Fear disciplines me by warning me that “without holiness no one will see God” (12:14). He puts me on alert that I could become an orphan if I abandon my birthright (12:16).
If God wants to grow something in me like righteousness and holiness, that’s fine. But in this season of my growth, I’m looking for peace, so I’ll endure the discipline if it will bring me a bumper crop of peace. I know that this is not what my eyes should be “fixed” on, but that’s okay because all of my trainers continuously remind me that peace is only a shadow of a reality. The reality is ultimately found in a Person and His name is Jesus. He is the true Prince of Peace.
I continually remind myself about “harboring the right conditions for growth.” One of the ways I do this is by preaching this message in all areas of my life because this is vital to my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. Harboring the right conditions is essential to my health and well being because this process is ordained by God. The Bible doesn’t use this expression, but Scripture uses words like disciple, discipline, and discipleship to describe this principle and process.
Harboring the right conditions or discipleship speaks of a joint venture, a participation between man and God. One of the analogies of this in Scripture is the picture of a farmer. No farmer in his right mind would say, “I’m going to be in continual prayer so that the LORD will give me a bumper crop of corn this year” without the farmer going out to his field, preparing the soil, planting the seed, watering, fertilizing, and weeding the ground. Yet, I am sorry to say that I’ve met quite a few people who thought that all they had to do was pray. They expected to reap what they did not sow and the results were disastrous.
On the other extreme, I know people who think that everything was a result of their efforts without the help of anyone else. This too is foolishness because we are all interdependent on something or somebody, and in more ways than we can imagine. In speaking of God’s role, the apostle Paul has this perspective, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (I Corinthians 3:6).
God makes it grow! We cannot make anything grow. We cannot add years to our lives, much less give life (Matthew 6:27, Luke 12:25). We have to do our part, but really, we are at the mercy of God. It is God that gives the increase, ask Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:28-37).
This theme is repeated in Scripture, but lest we forget, Paul reminds us of our partnership with the LORD, “Let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). The Hebrew writer adds, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).
Harboring the right conditions for growth is hard. Sometimes it means doing nothing. Actually, I call it doing nothing. It’s really a discipline and Scripture calls this discipline, “waiting on the LORD.” Paul says it this way, “…having done all you can, stand” (Ephesians 6:13). Why? Because, “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
Ultimately, and fortunately, we are dependent on God for growth. Only a fool would think otherwise.
