The writer of Hebrews reminds us that discipline is for training in righteousness. Righteousness is to live a life of right actions based on what the Lord says is right. Self-discipline and the Lord’s discipline are for training in His right ways of doing and being in the world. To our detriment, we think too little of righteousness as a lifestyle conditioned for and by character. When we have been trained in it we have conditioned ourselves for right responses that become second nature to us. Then, we are not waiting on a word from the Lord to do right, we have been reprogramed to do it, by what Eugene H. Peterson called, “A long obedience in the same direction”.
“Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 (NRSV)
