Day 1- CAUSE AND EFFECT

Proverbs 1:3 Their purpose is to reach people to live disciplined and successful lives.

Do you remember being taught in school about the principle of cause and effect? Just in case you’ve slept a lot since then and can’t quite recall, here’s the basic premise: the cause and effect relationship is when something happens that makes something else happen, cause being the initial action that makes the effect take place.

For instance, when I was in college the McDonalds on the corner was offering a buy one get one sandwich deal for students. All you had to do was show your student ID. Since that was cheaper than buying groceries, I would go there just about everyday for lunch to buy four sandwiches for two dollars off the dollar menu. Great deal, right? That’s what I thought until about a month I found that my pants were shrinking. Well, maybe they weren’t shrinking. You get the idea.

Cause: eating McDonalds everyday

Effect: losing a notch on my belt

This Proverb is showing us another cause and effect scenario. But this time we aren’t talking about what happens on a strict McDonalds diet. No, it’s something much more valuable. Solomon is all his wisdom is giving us a major key to life. Here it is:

Cause: live disciplined

Effect: successful life

There’s that word, we all love to hate… discipline! Isn’t it funny how simple and yet complicated that word can be? It’s simple on the one hand because we all know what to do. We know putting a little money back each paycheck is important. We all know eating right and exercising will pay off. We know spending a little time in prayer and the Word daily is vital. We know these things, yet most of us would have to admit that in more than one area, we haven’t been doing them.

You see, God, like any good father, wants His kids to live successful lives and is trying to give us the master key. The key is not in doing something extraordinary occasionally. No, that’s not what discipline means. Discipline is doing the little things consistently, even when we don’t feel like it and especially when it’s difficult.

So, what areas of your life do you think God is speaking to you about today? What arena are you not experiencing success right now, even though you know you should be? Identify it. Bring it to God. Ask Him to give you the wisdom of what to do and then the grace of discipline to make it happen.

PRAYER

Father, I want to thank you for showing me the key to a successful life. I’m thankful that your plan for me is to succeed in every arena. I recognize that I need to apply discipline to __________ (area of my life). Give me the wisdom to know what to do and the grace to be disciplined in making it happen. I receive both of these things now, in Jesus name!