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Giving Myself a Black Eye

Saturday, June 08th, 2013 | Author:

but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27  NASB

Discipline – We live the lives of Jacob, so maybe we need the same faith as Jacob.  What I mean is that we aren’t Job.  We are not righteous men and women.  We struggle with Torah.  We make mistakes.  We take “vacations” from the commandments.  We are “foremost” among the sinners, just like Paul.  I would imagine that most of us have at one time or another attempted to manipulate God’s grace in our favor.  It’s difficult for us to say with complete confidence, “Even if you slay me, yet I will worship you.”  We are much more like the schemer Jacob, trying to figure out how to stay out of trouble and still get what we want.

Jacobs’s faith is a fighting faith.  He has to wrestle with God.  He loses (so do we all) but he won’t quit even in defeat.  That’s why his name becomes Israel – and for the rest of his life you will find that he vacillates between his old name and the new name God gave him.  Sounds a lot like me.

What does Paul’s statement about discipline have to do with Jacob?  Well, the word Paul uses is the Greek hypopaizo.  Yes, it does mean discipline, but it is a word from the boxing world.  It is used by Diogenes Laertius to describe a fight where one man gives the opponent a black eye.  Hypopaizo is a punch in the face.  It’s a graphic, powerful, confrontational word that belies the idea of mental asceticism.  Paul literally says that in order to follow the leading of Yeshua he must pound himself into shape.  He gives himself a black eye in order to stick with the Lord.  He and Jacob go through the same “discipline,” that is, they have to use every ounce of energy to hold on to God in order to be worthy of His blessing.

Discipline is not for the weak.  It’s not for those who aren’t willing to be beaten up a bit.  It’s not for those who are out of shape, who think this life should be easy and God will “take care of things.”  Discipline is for those who are willing to be knocked down and still get back up again.  This is what I need, and for the same reasons Paul states.  What is the point of providing all this elaboration of the Word if I myself fail to meet its standard?  I have to be ready to be given a black eye for God’s sake.  Most of the time that black eye doesn’t come from some other person.  I’m the only one, other than the Lord, who knows how much I fail to keep the instructions that I teach others.  I need to beat myself into shape.  God will certainly assist, but until I take off the face guard, I am not really in the fight.  In this battle, I have to be ready to give myself a black eye.

Far too often we opt for a comfortable spirituality.  Of course, we are willing to take on difficult tasks “for the Lord,” but when it comes to beating myself, to wearing down all those offers from the yetzer ha’ra, we would rather play the church video game from the couch.  No blood in that!  If you get hit, it doesn’t hurt and you can just push the OFF button.  God, unfortunately, is the God of life, not games, and life is in the blood.  If you’re going to play in His world, you better bring bandages.

Topical Index: hypopaizo, discipline, wear down, 1 Corinthians 9:27

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , ,  | 13 Comments

My Way or The Highway

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | Author:

Dedicate a youth according to what his way dictates; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Dedicate – Solomon was a very wise man.  His wisdom penetrated the essence of things.  His sayings often reveal what we do not see on the surface.  So, when we read this mashal (Hebrew – proverb), we should be careful not to think of it as merely commonsense.  Why would Solomon bother to tell us that you can discipline a child to do what you want?  That’s obvious.  The King James idea of “training a child” sends us in the wrong direction.  Proverbs is not a book for parents.  It’s a book for youth.  This mashal isn’t about making a child follow a path determined by parents.  It’s about directing the child in a path essential to who the child is.

The imperative chanok (dedicate) means “to start the youth off with a strong and perhaps even religious commitment to a certain course of action.”[1] But what course of action?  Waltke writes “[the child] must be assessed individually to design personally the appropriate moral initiative.”  In other words, the course of action is determined according to the individual makeup of the child.  It is tailor-made to fit the essential character of the child.  “One rule fits all” is not the process Solomon endorses.  It can’t be “My way or the highway.”  That isn’t what Solomon (or God) has in mind here.

OK, so it’s about unique, individual courses of action.  Does that mean parents have different “rules” for each child?  No. Rules can still be the same.  But this verse is not about rules! It’s about parental dedication to understand your child so deeply that you see what the child was born to be – and then designing a course of action to allow the child to become what God designed into him or her.  God designed each of us to fit perfectly into His delightful plan for creation.  Parents have the responsibility to discern what God has in mind for their children and do everything they can to bring that about.  When they set a child on a course of action that is in alignment with the way the child is designed by God, the child will never depart from it.  “Born to be me” is the operating principle.

So, if you have children, are you able to answer this question:  Do you know (from God’s perspective) what your children were born to be?  If you don’t, how can you possibly fulfill the role of parent according to God’s design?  If you don’t know who your child was born to be, you are more than likely to send that child down your path, not God’s path.  And when they are older, they will depart from it because it wasn’t who they were.

This is not commonsense!  This is godly instruction.  It is dedication to “what his way dictates,” not what you desire.  It’s action after homework.  And homework for parents is all about God’s design for your child, not your wishes for your child.  Maybe it’s time to take a much deeper look at that little person running around your house.

Topical Index:  children, discipline, Proverbs 22:6, chanok, dedicate

[1] Waltke, Proverbs, Vol. 2, p. 204.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 7 Comments