Tae Kwon Voh Dee Oh Doh!


The title of this post is a misnomer, because today I'm thinking about discipline...and in doing so, Tae Kwon Do came to mind.  

My son started classes when he was 3.  And at 3, the discipline of the classes was tough.  After all - this was a 3 year old.  He was KING of his own world, and used to getting his own way, running around without a care, and exuberantly raising his voice at times into a loud shout.

But the instructor was good.  He looked directly into the kids' eyes as he talked to them.  He spoke kindly, but firmly.  He let them know that he was the one in charge and that He was the one who would be leading them.  And after just one hour - I saw my son snapping to attention, showing focus, "leaning in" to what the teacher was saying.  He was developing discipline...

Leading up to this post today - I had been thinking about ants.  I had taken a video of a colony of them working hard to bring food to their colony.  I watched as several of them lifted a dead worm - carrying over rough terrain, before finally dropping it into the hole from which they'd all emerged.  One ant had a grain of rice that was significantly bigger than he was - and yet, somehow he managed to carry it to the hole and dump it in.  These ants were disciplined as they collected food for the winter.

Another thought that has been rattling around in my head - the one that scares me and keeps me awake at night happened as part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!'"

So why have these three thoughts been circling my brain for the past several days - well, I asked God, and this is what I think He's trying to tell me.  Knowing Jesus is not just a matter of saying, "I know him!".  It is not just about recognizing Him as our Lord and Savior (though that is surely where it begins).  Knowing Jesus requires spending TIME with Him.  And making the time takes discipline.

If you have a "Tae Kwon Voh Dee Oh Doh" attitude, you will not make it very far in the sport.  If the ants had a "let's put it off until tomorrow" way of looking at the world - a time would come when harvesting would no longer be possible.  If you figure - I have declared Jesus as my Savior, and that's enough - but don't bother spending TIME with him to discover who He truly is, or "the will of his father in heaven," then I fear that at the end of your life Jesus may say to you, "I do not know you."

Spending time requires discipline.  It requires time in God's word - getting to know and understand him.  It requires PRIORITIZING that over other tasks in your day.  And if there are things that are keeping you from that (including this blog), cut them out of your life.  Because KNOWING Jesus is critically important, and it takes discipline...








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