Breaking the ground rules of life has consequences-frustration, failure, rejection, confusion, illness, depression, poverty, and death--to name a few. The good news is that we can actually benefit from our mistakes, if we will learn from them and try not to repeat them (this is the meaning of repentance).

God's ground rules have built in discipline dynamics when we violate the ground rules-we experience the negative consequence. When we do poor work, we suffer! When we're inconsiderate or mean to others, they return the favor. When we're lazy, we're poor; when we steal, we go to jail, and on and on.

The consequences-if we're paying attention-act as God's discipline, to disciple (or train us) to follow the rules. When we discipline a child (or a pet), to train them in proper conduct, we are (or should be) quick to point out the connection between breaking the rules and punishment. So we need to learn the principles of cause and effect-that certain actions cause unpleasant consequences.

When we break life's ground rules we set in motion negative consequences which serve to discipline (teach) us, but only if we are open to "receiving the discipline"--meaning we take responsibility for how things turned out (even if it wasn't all our fault), and resolve to act differently the next time.

The person (fool) who insists on ignoring life's lessons, willfully violating God's ground rules and defying reality itself will end up dead, emotionally, spiritually, even physically (as we witness the astounding number of deaths due to various addictions). These are the proverbial fools who chose pain, failure, devastation, disappointment and refuse to learn from their own mistakes and chose death rather than a little self-discipline.