EMBRACING DISCIPLINE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. 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.

Hebrews 12:4-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have parented two wonderful girls into adulthood and even though they are both slightly over or under forty years of age now, I still remember the days when they were younger and living at home. There were so many good times, times I will always cherish for as long as I live. But there were also those times when correction was needed, when one daughter or the other or both chose to do wrong and discipline was needed. None of those times were fun but they were necessary because the alternative would have been two grown adults having no respect for right or wrong or any tolerance for consequences whenever they were caught up in their wrongs.

Before I move on, it’s important to note one other thing about disciplining children. For on the receiving end, children see discipline as punishment as they might lose a privilege they enjoyed before. In some cases, kids may even see discipline as the opposite of love. In other words, as long as they were free to do as they pleased without intervention, they were happy and feeling loved. But as soon as penalties were imposed, penalties that might even remove doing something they had already planned to do, then the parents are seen as the bad guys who have it in for their child. As long as correction is being done in a way that honors the Lord, this perception couldn’t be further from the truth.

You see, parents are to discipline their children, not because they love them less, but rather because they love them all the more and want them to go into adulthood with the chance to be the best adult and person they can possibly be.

All this brings us to this wonderful passage for today as we continue our study of Hebrews, chapter 12.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. 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. Vv. 4-11

First of all, we need to know that the Lord does discipline His children who by definition are those who have believed in Jesus as Savior. He wants all His beloved offspring to be the best people they can be in Him and to that end, He has given us His holy Word in the Bible so we know the behavior He expects. As long as we obey His Word and will, we remain in good standing with Him but when we willingly choose to not comply with what He wants, then you can expect that He is going to do something about it.

When He does, we read where it’s always out of love.

The call is for us to embrace discipline and any hardship it brings when we have done something to warrant it. This is because this proves the legitimacy of our relationship with our Maker and Master. When it comes, His correction validates that we are either His son or daughter.

We are also to see that God’s discipline is just a continuation of the discipline experienced from parents. The key take away from this passage is that a parent’s discipline is just a primer for the lifelong correction of the Lord as He prepares us through His training and teaching to share in His holiness and produce a harvest of righteousness before we one day share in His glory.

Surrender to His authority and punishment when you sin, all the while that He loves you enough to make you into the kind person He created you to be, a person who reflects His very image in every way while doing everything.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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