Everywhere I Go: Learning to See JesusSample

The Discipline of Sons Would you like to have genuine character? To be the kind of person that others respect and admire? What if I told you the only way to develop true character was to suffer and endure discipline? Would you change your mind? Many do. You see, we don't like the rod. We don't like pain or discomfort, even if it's temporary. But it is through discipline that we develop the fruit of righteousness, and discipline is required course work in God's university. The finest professor I had in seminary was Dr. Mark Loveless. Dr. Loveless lectured with a pool cue, and without looking he could point on a map to Qumran, Beersheba, Masada, or the Dead Sea. He knew German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic, and it was work for us students simply to keep up with his lectures. I worked harder in his class than I ever have before or since. In one of his courses, we did not have a test the entire semester. On the day of the final exam, he walked to the black board and wrote one word: WRITE. I did. For everything I was worth. Dr. Loveless' classes were nothing but struggle for me, but his exacting ways made me a real student. Every other class I took was easy. He stretched me. But when it was all said and done, I was disciplined in a way I had never been before. God's discipline is proof of His love. If we are His, He has promised to discipline us for our good and for His glory. When discipline comes, see it as a loving touch from a Father too good to leave us "well enough alone."