One of the things I hate most in life is having to discipline my children. Of course, I’m not perfect at it, but I don’t discipline because I get some type of power trip out of it, but I discipline because I love my girls. I discipline because God tells me to do so. But my discipline is an extension of my love for my children.
They, of course, don’t think of that—even if I tell them. They know in the moment they’re just getting in trouble. But I know I try my best to ensure our girls know we discipline in love.
The same is true with God—in a far better, perfect way. The Lord disciplines those he loves. “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives’” (Heb. 12:5-6).
This doesn’t mean we enjoy being disciplined by the Lord—however that looks. But it means we remember that he disciplines his sons. His discipline is evidence of us being his children. And when God disciplines, it’s always in order to shape us more into the image of his Son.
This is all in the context of us being his children. We know the Lord loves us when he disciplines us. May we not walk away when he disciplines or rebukes us in our sin. We need it. But his discipline is not him turning away from us. “The Father never writes us off,” the late RC Sproul wrote.
Friend, don’t despise the Lord’s discipline, but take it to heart and yield to the Holy Spirit so that you confess sin in your life, repent of it, and believe all the more in the gospel of Christ. And as you do so, remember you are being held in the sovereign arms of God.
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