Friday, August 5, 2011

God's Discipline is NOT Punishment

Hebrews 12:7-12

New International Version (NIV)
 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 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! 10 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. 11 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.
 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.


The word: DISCIPLINE has a negative connotation to it, right? Or is it just me? I think we have made it synonymous with the word PUNISHMENT. You know what I mean...when we were kids and our parents disciplined us didn't we get in trouble? weren't we punished?

And still today, when we're going through a trial, haven't we all thought that God might be punishing us for something...for some blunder on our part?

But what if Discipline isn't the same as Punishment?
Punishment is defined as: The infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.
Punishment includes some sort of condemnation in it.
But Romans 8:1 tells us, 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So this got me thinking. And as I was pondering the difference between discipline and punishment, the Lord led me to this passage in Hebrews 12. And I found it's a passage to rejoice over!  

So I'm writing this blog to share a couple thoughts with you about the goodness of God's discipline in our lives.
The first thing I learned when we're going through trials, is that trials identify us as HIS children! And He wants to make us better people! I praise the Lord that He is not content to just leave me where I am at, but He wants to show me a better way, the way of Christ. He does this for our good so that we may be more holy like He is holy. And that's is the exact prayer of my heart! Lord make me more like You, so that I may be a blessing to others!
I encourage you, friends, if you are going through a trial, do not be discouraged, but rejoice in the knowledge that we serve a God who loves us so thoroughly that He wants to make us better!
As children, our parent's methods of discipline made no sense to us, but now we see that it was done for our best. They were not satisfied to leave us as rambunctious, wild children, but rather disciplined us so that we might fulfill a greater purpose.
These trials can seem very painful while we go through them, and they are. But later on they will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for us.
The results of our trials is peace, a quiet confidence in who God is and what He is doing.

Ultimately, when we go through trials, we have the chance to know God better, to become more like Him, and find ourselves closer to Him than ever before.

So in the midst of the storm, be encouraged.

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