Delighting in Discipline

“Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”—1 Timothy 4:7-8

Do you delight in discipline? If you are anything like me, the word “delight” is not the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word “discipline.” In fact, “delight” and “discipline” don’t appear to go together any more than toothpaste and orange juice. But delight and discipline do go together. We discipline ourselves to do the things in which we delight.

Allow me to explain. If I delight in something I am going to make sure that I get time to do it, no matter what. Somehow, in the midst of our super-crowded schedules, we manage to find time for our hobbies or the things that we really delight in. If I enjoy golfing, or cooking, going to the movies, etc., then I am going to arrange my schedule to do whatever it is. I will make time for that in which I find the most joy. The difficulty for many of us is, we delight in many things rather than God. The Psalmist writes, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart”—Psalm 37:4. We are disciplined in pursuing our delights, but our delights are usually not in the Lord our God.

Surprisingly, the Bible talks about discipline. The apostle Paul wrote, “Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come”—1 Timothy 4:7-8. The word for “train” is gymnazo, from which we get our English word “gymnasium.” The word means “to train” or “exercising vigorously.” When Paul wrote that we are to train ourselves for godliness, he wanted us to exercise our spiritual muscles. We must train ourselves to delight in the Lord our God. But how do we train ourselves to delight? The Psalmist knew: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”—Psalm 34:8. One can’t delight in something one has never tasted. And one can’t truly delight in God until one knows who He really is. It’s not until we get a glimpse of who Christ really is, how amazingly wonderful, loving, determined, merciful, and gracious, that we want to come to Him more and more. The problem that most of us have is that we don’t really know who Christ is, because we haven’t taken the time to get to know Him. We have entertained wrong ideas about Him that end up sabotaging any thoughts of delight.

Mere dedication and discipline does not enable us to delight in God. Delight in God comes from tasting and seeing for oneself how amazing He really is. Delight must proceed and direct discipline for discipline to have its full effect. Discipline without delight is drudgery, but delight with discipline results in determined obedience to do the things that enable us to please and delight in Him more and more.

What is it you are delighting in? Is God your supreme delight? Have you taken the time to truly “taste and see” who He is and what He has done for you? Ask God to reorient your delights and your discipline will follow. Delight in the Lord and then discipline yourself to do so more and more, and you will notice that your joy in Him will increase infinitely and He will receive praise because of it. Ask God to help you delight in Him and He will answer. Amen.