A Loving Discipline

I get it!

No one really enjoys any form of discipline.

My daughter, Kailani, tries to stray far from it as possible.

After being told to stop doing whatever wrong she’d be doing and corrected to do the right thing, she would run off and cry [in a very dramatic way].

Sometime last week, God had me to pay close attention to this specific behavior and reflect on the “chances” that this trait may have been passed down from me – but of course, in a different form.

In the same way children have tantrums because they are told “no,” adults do too.

Selfishness and pride will have us to believe that we are everything but wrong in our errors, when in reality, we are in total disobedience to God.

To run from God’s discipline means that we do not believe in His love.

He disciplines His children [us] from a place of love.

God loves to discipline us because it disciplines us to love Him the right way.

Never has Father God intended to hurt us. But if His discipline and correction have everything to do with our eternal dwelling, He will do what is necessary – even if it makes us cry.

But when we are not receptive to Him, we cannot expect anything other than failure, destruction, and even death.

How we respond to God’s discipline MATTERS!

A MOMent to Reflect:

Now that I am an adult, a mother, and a wife, I look back on the many times I was disciplined as a child.

I won’t ever say that I enjoyed all those moments, but I can honestly say that I appreciate them.

Those moments taught so many life lessons. Lessons that I never expected to be waiting ahead for me.

When the time comes and the correction from my mother has manifested in my life, I can do nothing but nod my head and say, “Now I understand Mama and thank you.”

In the same way, when we take heed to God’s discipline and witness its greatness in our lives, and how it kept us from falling into the enemy’s traps, and how blessed we are to be God’s children, we will then be able to nod our head and tell Him, “Thank you Father for your loving discipline and correct. It was well worth it.”

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