God's Discipline

Hebrews 12 talks a lot about discipline. But mostly it talks about God's love. Because He loves us, He disciplines us so that we learn not to do what we did again. He only wants the best for us, and so when we make mistakes and start doing things for ourselves our way and not His, he first convicts us through the Holy Spirit, and then disciplines us accordingly.

Hebrews 12:11 reads, "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."

SO, discipline not only shows us how much God loves us, but also is blessing later when (and if) we learn from it! Ahhhh but it doesn't feel good for as long as it lasts. :( It hurts. A lot. Yet God is right beside us helping us through it.

For me, reading those verses in Hebrews 12 has helped me see the "point" in discipline. I never liked it when my dad put me in my room or spanked me or whatever. But of course I realized that he only did that when I did something that could (or did) potentially harm me or my relationship with my parents or God. So there was always a super good reason that my human father disciplined me. HOW MUCH MORE does my Father in heaven love me and therefore want to discipline me in order that I might be in better relationship with Him???!!!

Yeah. Pretty awesome.