READING: Numbers 3-5, Hebrews 12
I never did like to get disciplined as a kid, though I’m sure I deserved it. At the time, I was convinced it was undeserved and unhelpful – but then I grew up to learn better. I now understand that my parents disciplined me because they loved me, and they wanted to protect me from harm later on. In some ways, they were protecting me from my own rebellious and risky ways. I just needed some life maturity to understand that truth.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that God, too, disciplines us because He loves us. In addition, He corrects us “for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness” (Heb 12:10). God’s chastisement may be painful, but it’s always perfect, ever producing righteousness in us. He lays His hand of chastisement on us so that our hearts are more and more conformed to the image of Christ. In that sense, the product of discipline is sweet even if the process isn’t so much.
Looking back across my life, I’m grateful today for parents and a heavenly Father who love me so much that they wouldn’t let me get away with wrong. Their discipline has proven to me that I’m their son.
PRAYER: “Thank You, Father, for discipline—even when I don’t like it.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Numbers 6-7, Hebrews 13