In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son” Hebrews 12: 4, NIV.
Merciful Father, no chastisement at the moment feels good, but if we endure, it will eventually produce fruit for which we can be grateful. Please teach us how to endure. This we ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Yesterday, we ended on the note that Jesus never asks us to do anything that He Himself was not prepared to do. As we studied the series, Running The Race Of Eternal Life, I noticed a trend throughout the Scripture. All who by faith died believing, were, at one time or another in their experience, tried, tested, or disciplined. From the sound of our text for today, it would appear that the Jewish believers were either undergoing, or were being prepared to undergo, some kind of test or trial, which the apostle described as, discipline.
It is true that ” . . . no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (11, emphasis provided). It is very important for us as Christians to recognize that God is in the process of reconstructing, and remaking, and remolding, our characters. He is training us for life at a much higher level than that to which we are accustomed. This does not feel comfortable for several reasons: Some of us feel that we are okay just as we are. Most of us resist change. All of us dislike chastening. I have said this before, but I believe it is worth repeating, that all of God’s laws and everything that He allows to touch our lives, is for the purpose of helping us to grow. This is true of the chastening process.
As parents, we recognize that our children must go through “growing pains.” They must fall down and get up, until they learn to balance themselves. They must begin to get bits of solid food, and learn to exercise their gums by chewing, so that they will have healthy gums to support their teeth. They must shed their infant teeth to make way for their adult teeth. They will have to leave the safety of home, and be weaned away from mom, in order to go to school, where they will learn to interact with other children. They must be promoted from kindergarten, and leave the teacher and the classroom of their comfort, in order to go on to higher heights and learn more. It is possible that they will resist each of these changes. But if they allow each change to accomplish its purpose, they will be better, stronger, and wiser, for it.
The Word of God informs us that in disciplining us, God is treating us as children. We should determine to learn well the lessons intended by the Lord. A good parent, in order to keep his or her son and/or daughter from ruining their chances of having a good life, must at times, chasten them. I found a rather interesting set of definitions of the word chasten, and some real eye-opening synonyms of the same, on online dictionary.org: Definitions: 1. to inflict suffering upon for purposes of moral improvement; chastise. 2. to restrain; subdue. 3. to make chaste in style. Synonyms: 1. discipline, punish. 2. humble. 3. purify, simplify.
Inflicting of suffering does not necessarily mean corporal punishment. Some restraints are much harder to bear, and can prove much more effective, especially during youth. And they can surely help in bringing about a change in behavior. Oftentimes, children and youth just need to slow down long enough for their brains to catch up with their bodies. In the case of the Christian, sometimes it takes a bit of humbling to get us back on track. It is like the words of the old lady to a young pastor who had been quite haughty when going into ministry. When he met a bump in the road, and had to be disciplined because of it, her words to him were: “If you had gone up the way you are coming down, you would be coming down the way you went up.”
May God help us to realize, that it is because of His love for us, that at times, He chastises, or disciplines, us. And because He loves us, His discipline is not applied with the intention of hurting us, but rather to help us. If we allow it, chastening will “afterward yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”
NOTE: Some editing has been done to today’s devotional.