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He who lives without discipline dies without honor Icelandic proverb
By now, you’ve probably realized that none of these habits can be developed without a lot of discipline and self-control. Just wanting to do better is not enough; we have to be willing to discipline ourselves, and that always means giving something
up in order to get something we want more. We discipline ourselves now for a future reward.
For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have
been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right
standing with God]. Hebrews 12:11
We often hear people say, “I’m not a very disciplined person,” or “I wish I were a more disciplined person.”
Discipline never comes by wishing, but it comes only by a willingness to go through what is grievous and painful in order
to get to the good thing on the other side of it. Are you willing? I guess you should stop right here for a few minutes and make
that decision before going on. If you make the decision and you are serious about it, you can depend on God to give you the
strength to follow through, but I am not going to try to deceive you by saying that forming all of these new habits will be easy.
I would rather underpromise and overdeliver than overpromise and under-deliver. If it turns out not to be difficult or painful, that’s great, but if it does turn out to be difficult or painful, I don’t want you to run because you had no idea what you were getting into.
Some of the habits you need to break or make will be easier than others, but there willsurely be some that will
require great discipline and self-control. Don’t be afraid of pain, but remember the old adage, “No pain, no gain.” Any time something is hard, say to yourself, “I am making progress.”
