God's Discipline

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, 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 he delights in.

I did a lesson long time ago for a group of Sunday School teachers on classroom discipline and we had a very interesting discussion on the topic. One of the things we did was to examine the purpose of discipline. Was it to control the class? Was it to teach them respect? I put in my two-sense at the end which drew an “Aha” response. I believe that the end purpose of discipline is so as to let our children learn self-discipline.

One of the gifts of the spirit is ‘self-control’ (Galatians 5:22-23). Self-control is impossible without the discipline of discipline (pardon the double usage).

However, many people shy away from the word discipline nowadays. God certainly does not think that it deserves the negative connotation of today. In fact, God sees discipline as an act of love, rebuke as motivated by care.

Does it hurt when we are told we are wrong? Certainly. Does it make us look bad? Oh yes. Is it necessary? Is it good for us? Definitely. That is God’s guarantee. In fact, the person who does not love us will not bother to tell us our mistakes. But our God the Father delights so much in us that He would rather risk us misunderstanding Him than letting us hurt ourselves.

Don’t shun God’s chastisement because it is the greatest proof that He loves us. He loves us enough to hurt us temporarily in order to grow us eternally.