GODLY DISCIPLINE

   Hebrews 12:4-7         

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? 1 Hebrews 12:4-7

Discipline is our catalog or database for what God is doing and what He can do in our lives. It is a vehicle toward the quality and result of our spiritual formation. This is not about being punished for being disobedient. Rather, it is a call to be trained like an athlete being made ready for the game, or as a child receiving nurture and correction, to be a better person and to prepare for adulthood as a Christian.

We can't enter the race of life and faith without preparation through diligence, obedience, and submission. This is something we are to embrace and love, not fear or try to get out of. Our goal is to know and then serve Christ. It takes honest, hard work. Remember that God nurtures and encourages us, and we should also welcome His discipline, for that helps us too. Just as a loving parent corrects a child and helps him or her on the path for a better future, so God does with us. Even though we do not like discipline, it is best for us.

Therefore, we have no reason to feel discouraged, rather, we can endure for His glory. So, get a grip on life and faith, with your main grip on Christ as Lord. He will help you go in the right way, His way, and not flounder. Too often we shy away from words like chastening and discipline, correction, and submission, because our lives have experienced the world's efforts at chastening, discipline, correction, and submission, which fall far short of its godly meaning in the Bible.

We need to recognize that God's chastening is not His wrath or some angry punishment or penalty, but rather how God graciously deals with us as a loving Father Who seeks to mold us into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for our benefit and for His glory. Too often we try to short-circuit this godly child-training in our lives and escape God's chastening and discipline, correction and instructions, avoiding the fact that God is dealing with us as His sons and daughters. His fatherly training and correction are a reflection of His deep love for us and not some angry response or kill-joy attitude.

God wants to bring every child of His into full maturity as sons and daughters and if our earthly fathers teach and train us through their own, imperfect human correction, how superior is God's perfect, godly training program? Let us be grateful that God chastens us as His children, and let us develop a teachable spirit, patient endurance, and humble submission so we may grow in grace and be mature in the faith. Let us rejoice in the knowledge that God is dealing with us as His children!!!

Father, thank You for this day and for the rod of Your correction in our lives. Lord, let Your abundant blessings flow from the storehouses of heaven over my friends and family today. Lord, help us to endure Your chastening and correction in our lives with wisdom and grace, knowing that through it, You are conforming us into the image and likeness of Yourself. Lord, give us a teachable spirit and a heart of humble submission and willing obedience so we may learn all the lessons You would teach us. Lord, use my friends to be a light in the darkness of this world that leads others to You.

Father, we love You. Amen.