WELCOME DISCIPLINE
My son (daughter), do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son (daughter) he delights in.
Proverbs 3:11-12
Last weekend when we were out with friends one of the dinner topics was discipline. I shared a thirty-five year old story about when I disobeyed my mother. Although I have no recollection today of the wrong I committed, I still remember what followed. My mom commanded me to stop; I ran. I dashed around the corner and was halfway up the stairs, when she grabbed my foot. A bit surprised that my mother was so fast, and mostly panicked at what was coming next, I screamed, “Child abuse!” There is no way on this planet that my mother is capable of abuse of any sort. Shocked by my reaction, she looked at me, I looked at her, and we sat on the steps and laughed.
Proverbs has a word for anyone who is running from God’s discipline, rather than stopping to receive His teaching and correction. My child, don’t reject the LORD’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:11-12, NLT).
The word “discipline” within these verses of God’s Word primarily speaks to God’s teaching, correcting, and training, rather than His punishing His children. The single motive behind His fatherly discipline is love.
The Old Testament book of Hosea illustrates God’s love for His wayward, sinful children. Hosea 11:4 reads, I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. The NIV commentators shed wisdom on this verse. “God’s discipline requires times of leading and times of feeding. Sometimes the rope is taut; sometimes it is slack. God’s discipline is always loving, and its object is always the well-being of the beloved.”
There’s a temptation to write off God’s loving discipline, rather than to welcome it. That’s what the foolish do and the book of Proverbs gives us repeated reminders of their destiny. He (She) will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his (her) own folly (Proverbs 5:23).
If the LORD is correcting you through His Word, Spirit, or the words of a brother or sister in Jesus, rejoice! God hasn’t written you off! His willingness to discipline us means He hasn’t given up on us. Accept His correction and receive its blessings. Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding (Proverbs 3:13, NLT).
Wisdom Step: What word of correction have you recently received from God? Be wise by welcoming and applying it to your life.
Be much with the solid teachings of God's word, and you will become solid and substantial men and women: drink them in, and feed upon them, and they shall produce in you a Christ-likeness, at which the world shall stand astonished.
C. H. Spurgeon
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