Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
that you may be wise the rest of your days. 

Proverbs 19:20

It is absolutely against human nature to accept discipline and learn from it! Even when helpful counsel is given, it is hard for us mere mortals to keep our self-absorbed annoyance in check. Whether it is a toddler, a teenager or a tried and tested adult, it takes practice and perseverance to process discipline as a learning tool and to value counsel as a springboard to success. But, what a promise is given to us in this key verse if we will learn to learn from those who counsel us and correct us when we need it! 

Anyone else want to be ‘wise for the rest of your days’?

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, for whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 3:11-12

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful;
yet to those who have been trained by it,
afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 

Hebrew 12:10-11

Wow! Just imagine if we would see discipline, even when from imperfect humans, as from the LORD. If we can realize that God doesn’t expect us to jump up and down for joy when correction comes (no one does that), but that He does expect that we be trained, that we learn, and that we adjust as needed. 

If we can get that part of this Hebrews passage down, then we are promised good to us, sharing in God’s holiness, and receiving peace full of righteousness! 

I have experienced this from time to time, (not as much as I should) and I can testify to God’s faithfulness in the correction and in the process of being reproved. I can also testify that it was not fun, that my pride did get in the way and that my own stubbornness usually dragged the process out! And still God’s fruit of the spirit blossomed within me and poured out of me when I let the process run to completion. I am so very thankful!

My kids are grown up now and have kids of their own. It’s been a pleasure to watch them train up their children within these principles.  Not perfectly and not consistently (who does) but they are committed to God’s principles of correction within their families and their own wisdom grows as a result. God is amazing that way!

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service of worship.

Romans 12:1