December 17
December 17
The Lord’s discipline is not punishment for your sin, but loving protection from it.
Every time I disciplined my children, I made sure to tell them how much I loved them. I wanted them to understand that my discipline was not the result of my anger toward them, but rather a sign of my affection for them. They were dear to me, I wanted what was best for them, and I took the protective and guiding part of my job as a parent seriously. That’s why those moments of discipline were necessary. So it is with our perfectly holy and loving heavenly Father. If you are the child of his love, then you will experience his discipline, which is the fruit of that love. Notice how the writer of Hebrews talks about our Father’s discipline:
Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:5–11)
This passage begins with an important question: Have you forgotten how encouraging it is that the one who sits on the throne of the universe addresses you as his child? You could experience no greater blessing than knowing that God has chosen you to be his child. Since you are God’s child, you can expect to be treated as one. You should not take your heavenly Father’s discipline lightly or allow yourself to become weary of it, because it is a sure sign of the wonderful reality that you belong to him. What good earthly father fails to discipline his children? If you look back on your childhood and feel thankful for the correction you received from your earthly father, how much more should you be thankful that God loves you enough to discipline you?
After making the connection between fatherly love and discipline, the passage turns to God’s reasons for disciplining us. His discipline is never punishment for our sin, because all of our punishment was carried by Jesus. God disciplines us so that we may share in his holiness. His discipline plants seeds of righteousness in our hearts and lives. That’s a very good thing.