'Endure hardship', is a hard order to obey. But it is an order, and it must be obeyed. 'Endure hardship' is the kind of instruction from a coach to a sportsperson in training; or to a soldier in active service (2 Timothy 2:3-7). But here it is addressed to children of God. Immediately it dispels any sentimental idea that following Jesus is an easy life designed to satisfy the self-indulgent. 'Discipline' is a word related to 'disciple', which means a 'learner'. Discipline is one of the processes of learning, in which the student chooses to stop, forgo or deprioritise other interests and activities in order to concentrate on learning to do whatever the master has told them to do.

Discipline is hard because it is not natural. It defies our own right to choose our own path and do whatever we want. We experience hardship because we are going against the grain of our selfish nature. But we do so because we value our relationship with the person we are learning from so highly and we do not want to lose that relationship. We love and honour our teacher, and we express that by being willing to do what is difficult, persist when it hurts and keep going until it becomes a natural way of life.

The 'master' is our heavenly Father. His love and His gospel should set our agenda (2 Timothy 1:8). He is teaching us how to grow up to live as a member of His family, a partner in His business. He really cares about us, not wanting us to waste our lives and His opportunities. His discipline is not just a set of rules enforced on us, but an instruction to develop our personality and character (James 1:2-4). It is the same for human families; the children generally grow to become like their parents, because they want to please them. That is so much more important for the family of heaven.

But there often comes a point where the pain does not seem to be matched by gain. That is the time when we need to keep on trusting the Lord. His timetable is not ours. Often His actions seem delayed and we may say it 'tests our patience'. But He is waiting until just the right time to reveal His power when He has brought all the pieces together to bless us. He is also testing our faithfulness as we wait for Him (Lamentations 3:24-26). In the end we have to choose either to submit to Him or to abandon being a disciple (John 6:66-71). That is a terrible choice because it says that we do not care about our relationship with God or about our eternal destiny. But the intensity of God's training programme is only because He loves us and wants to include us in His mission to the world. Submitting is a voluntary action on our part because we trust Him. This is a serious daily challenge for every disciple. Choose well today.