ON DISCIPLINE - Part 3

There’s a story I once heard about a boy and his father, who were sitting near a river, up on the river-bank talking about life. 

The son said to the father, “I am having trouble memorizing the scriptures as you have taught me to do. Do you have any advice that will help me?” To which the father replied, “go to the river and fill this basket with water, then bring it back to me.”

Over and over the son filled the basket up at the river. Always, by the time he got back to where the father was sitting the basket was already empty. Finally, in his frustration the son said, ‘Please help me understand the point of this. I’ll never be able to bring you water in this way. It always leaks out.”

The father replied,“Yes, you are correct. But look how clean the basket is.”

If you struggle to retain the spiritual truths you are reading in your spiritual disciplines, allow this story to be an encouragement to you. It’s easy to not have time or energy to devote to scripture and prayer. And even when we do, sometimes it just doesn’t seem to stick. But a regular discipline will at the very least cleanse us, and maybe that’s exactly what God is desiring for us.

Keep pressing in to your spiritual disciplines. As you do so, God will be cleansing and purifying you. Setting you apart. Forming you more into the likeness and character of Christ. It’s worth it!