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 12:11)
None of us like to be corrected. No-one enjoys being told what to do or be constrained in our actions by others. As young children we kicked and squealed and often cried when our parents disciplined us. It is in our nature to resist the controlling efforts of others, no matter if such efforts are demonstrably in our best interest or even for our safety. 'You mean I can't play with fire? Just watch me!'
As it is with our parents, so too it is with God. We resist God's loving, disciplining hand. We kick and we squeal and we cry out. God's discipline often does not feel pleasant because it confronts us with our rebellious spirit and the reality that we are not autonomous creatures; masters of our own universes. Rather, we are God's children - dependent on Him and inter-dependent with others.
I am so thankful that more often than not I have experienced God's discipline as a gentle and loving rebuke. In this I have experienced yet another measure of God's grace. In Hebrews 11 and 12 the writer reminds me that hardship and persecution can be used by God to discipline his children. The writer encourages me and us to endure hardship as discipline (12:7). Truth be told I have yet to endure much hardship in this life. My prayer is that when it inevitably comes I will see, experience and acknowledge the gracious hand of God's refining discipline that can be known in and through such seasons.
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