A Thought for "All Saint's Eve"

A couple years ago my grandson wanted to be a hot-dog for Halloween. This year he is dressing up as a ninja. We used to dress up as cowboys or Indians (we didn’t know about political correctness) or fireman or policemen. The girls were princesses or ballerinas or maybe a French chanteuse (very few gender challenges).

The reason I thought of this is that most of the time we had no idea what was involved in being a cowboy, or ballerina or fireman. We simply thought they were exciting things to be and so we dressed up as what ever it was we wanted and went out and got our candy. For a couple hours that is what we were.

The little girls don’t think of the hours of practice and sore and bleeding feet that real ballerinas have to experience. Little boys didn’t think about sleeping in the rain or getting up in the middle of the night to take care of the cows. No, they just dress up and they were what they imagine.

For the past several years I have been learning and trying to share with others the disciplines of being a disciple. Some of it is difficult and at times unpleasant. For many years, I simply dressed up as a Christian. It fooled a lot of people. It fooled me a lot of the time.

Here are a couple of verses that came to mind as I was thinking about this, this morning. Take a minute to think about them and consider your own discipleship.

Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God's sons. (Hebrews 12:8 ISV)

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. (Hebrews 12:11 ISV)

Just one final thought for those who shirk discipline.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7 ISV)