Proverbs Thought of the Day

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid."

- Proverbs 12:1

I've never met a person who enjoyed being disciplined. Yes, I know many Christians will tell you they appreciate when someone tells them they are on a wrong path because this will help them get right with God. It's the right thing to say, after all.

Appreciation is not enjoyment, however. No one says, "I love it when my shortcomings are pointed out. Nothing like knowing the world can see my flaws. What better way to start the day than to have someone tell me about my faults." Let's face it, we can accept correction, we can be thankful for it, we can use it to our benefit, but we don't LIKE it.

And that's okay. Hebrews 12:11 tells us, "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." We can acknowledge that we don't like being disciplined because the truth of the matter is, it hurts to be reminded of our sinful nature. We like to believe that now, as followers of Christ, we always get it right. To be shown our mistakes isn't pleasant. But as this verse tells us, when we accept that discipline we receive peace. Accepting discipline also brings us wisdom. Proverbs 19:20 tells us, "Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days." It's like taking nasty tasting medicine. Yes, it's yucky and probably leaves an unpleasant aftertaste, but once the medicine kicks in and the symptoms are relieved, we can appreciate what it did for us.

This Proverb tells us that to hate discipline is to be stupid. That's because when we don't accept discipline we can never move past the area where we struggle. Let's be open-minded and open-hearted as we accept that which hurts for a moment but keeps us joyful for a lifetime.