The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-05-26
Self : Discipline
Lesson for May 20, 1861

Spare the rod and spoil the
child" an old proverb says. We
can all sound off" about the
younger generation. how it's go
ing to pot, and about the juvenile
delinquents and what ought to be
done about them. We have big
ideas about educating parents to
feel responsible for the kind of
boys and girls their children are.
This is all good, so far as it goes.
But do you know the most COM
mon reason why parents don t
discipline their children? They
don't discipline themselves. One
rod that must not be spared is
the rod reserved by myself, for
myself. If I make a bad job of
self-discipline, l shan't be likely
to be good at disciplining others.
If You Want It!
It can be, said in simple words
what discipline is. It means train
ing a person to take, or do, what
he doesn't like, or to keep from
doing or taking what he does
like. Self-diScipline means learn
+, ing this for yourself, and prac-
ticing it without anyone standing
over you to make you do it.
There is one single requirement
that must be met first of all.
You must want, very strongly
what Self-discipline will do for
you. The writer of Prov. 2 puts
it into a nutshell: insight and
understanding. Do you want
these qualities in your charac-
ter? They don't glide into your
room on a moonbeam. No one
ever was born with perfect in
sight and understanding. Nobody
Except jesus ever achieved
perfect insight and understand
ing. body ever achieved
enough of it to be worth while,
without working at it, without
wanting it. 1t comes hard enough
at best. it never comes at all to
fools who don't care.
Not Only Women
The Bible is a very frank and
outspoken book. There are parts
of the Proverbs that plainly say
the object of wisdom is to "pre-
serve you from the loose
woman" This might mean a
professional prostitute, or it
might not. Then. as now, the
young man thout sense
Prov. I'D is easily taken by
the wrong kind of woman. No
amount of warning, no amount OF
law-making. no good example
nothing will keep young man
from being fatally foolish here
unelss he is self-diSciplined from
within.
And yet, while some people
think that the loose woman" is
the one real danger to youth. the
book of Proberbs would make us
aware that there are other dan
gers. There is anger. for exam
pie. How many murders are COM
mitted out of anger. only God
know. But you may be pretty
sure that the fit of anger which
brought forth the murder was not
the first to which the killer had
given way. Some criminals will
even put up as excuse the fac,
that they were emotionally dis
turbed. Such an excuse should
deceive no one. A fit of anger
may be irreSiStabl when you are
in the middle of it: but it is pos
sible to work on yourself SO tina
you know the signs of anger
coming up. and you can nip il
in the bud before it starts. Diplo
mats and politicians can do this
and they don't claim super
natural help: how much more
should Christian. by the helI
of the Holy Spirit, be able to dis
cipline himself away from acting
like a barbarian or a spoiled
child! Again we say, laws anc
good advice can perhaps proven
murder. but they can't prevent
anger, the seed-bed of murder
Only self-discipline can do that
Red-Eyed Woe
| One other trouble which is
common in mankind is liquor
The writer of the 23rd chapter
of the Proverbs gave as good a
description of a hangover as you
can read anywhere. It's nothing
less than red-eyed woe. Now al
the troubles of the dlinker
whether he gets to the stage o.
being an alcoholic or not - al
his troubles are actually arti
fetal troubles. They arc real. tt
be sure. but they arc not ma
tural. Sex and the acqmSltive III
stinct and anger are all natural
however. We may control them,