August 23, 2026 Devo

When I played basketball in college, our practices each day were very structured. The coach made us run certain drills over and over again. There were passing drills, dribbling drills, rebounding drills, and defensive drills. We worked on out-of-bounds plays, fast-break plays, and plays against a full-court press. We shot baskets from designated places on the floor. And we ran sprints until our lungs burned and our legs ached. Sound like fun? It wasn’t. But it was the process that was necessary to make us into the best players and best team we could be.
Discipline. It’s not a word that most of us like, but it’s the word that leads to maturity, greatness, and success. Watch any musician that you admire playing on stage. Do you think they just picked up that instrument and magically started playing it? Of course not. Good musicians are good because they spend hours and hours playing scales and practicing various musical pieces over and over again. The beauty of their music comes from the discipline they put into honing their craft. The earlier that aspiring athletes or musicians embrace the discipline that shapes them, the greater their chance of doing something of significance.
Jeremiah points out the importance of discipline in our walk of faith today. He says, “It is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline.” Sit with that thought for a moment. Like a great coach, God wants to shape us, mold us, break us, and make us into strong, mature people of faith. So He asks us to submit to the discipline of seeking Him first. He calls us to be people who are diligent in prayer, students of His Word, and imitators of His ways. Often, especially early in our faith, we tend to want to go our own way, do our own thing, and hope we can still be okay. We find out the hard way when we lose strength, are overcome by temptation, or fall flat on our face that we should have gone HIS way. “Disciples” of Christ are those who are committed to the disciplines of Christ. Hear my heart. There’s a difference between someone who is a “believer” and someone who is a “disciple.” And the difference is in the discipline.
Heed Jeremiah’s words today. The earlier we submit to the disciplines our Divine Coach calls us to, the faster we grow and develop into the people He’s called us to be. Discipline is good. Discipline is your friend. Discipline is the path to excellence. Discipline is how God makes you into who you truly want to be. It’s the process that makes the person. Trust your coach. That’s God’s Word for you today.