My son, do not despise the LORDs discipline and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 3:11-12 Delight in God’s Discipline Ever had a conversation with someone about how tough the discipline was when you were kids? Every generation has their own stories about the form of discipline they received, but the end result was the same–we experienced some form of discipline from our parents, principal, dean, and others. Some discipline actually ceases to be discipline and becomes abuse when it is not done in loving concern for others, but typically when people are discussing how “tough” they had it growing up it is done with a smile on the face. That smile communicates three things about discipline. One, we probably tend to exaggerate how tough the discipline was that we experienced. Two, while discipline isn’t pleasant at the time, we can laugh about it later. Three, either immediately or eventually, we respect and love our parents and others who cared enough about us to discipline us—to disciple or train us in the proper way to think, speak, and behave. Solomon helps us understand that we should feel the same way about God’s discipline. He is our Father, and through faith in Jesus we are his children. And when you think about it, the discipline we receive from parents and others really comes from God since those people are God’s representatives to be a blessing to us. Sometimes discipline comes as a result of our sinfulness. Suffering consequences for our sinful actions through his representatives, we learn how God in his goodness wants us to live and act. Then we pass on to others the lessons learned through discipline so they might also benefit from the training. Sometimes the discipline we receive is not the direct result of sin we are guilty of, but rather it is just the result of living in a sin-tainted world. A health problem, physical abnormality, personality quirk, accident, natural disaster, financial struggles, relationship problems, persecution for trying to live and speak like a Christian, and other unpleasant things that God allows or sends into our life do not need to be viewed negatively. As the writer to the Hebrews (12:7,11) reminds us, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons…No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Our heavenly Father’s loving discipline keeps us humble and focused on our Savior Jesus and the free forgiveness that we have through him. Through discipline our Father turns our attention to his word to sculpt, mold, and equip us as followers of Jesus to be more productive Christians. Our Father disciplines us to keeps our eyes on the perfect joy that he has promised for us in our eternal home in heaven. Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your loving discipline. Help me to embrace it instead of getting angry at you for it. Use your discipline to make me a more productive Christian and to help me focus on heaven where there will be no more need for discipline. I ask this in the name of my Savior Jesus. Amen.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:52:23 +0000
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