My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
— Proverbs 3: 11-12
Discipline is almost always a little bit painful. Not because it involves physical pain, although that is sometimes a part of discipline. Instead, it is because it is painful to see ourselves as we really are.
The whole point of discipline is to correct someone’s behavior or attitude. To do that, we have to be made aware of what we were doing wrong. Our underlying character is what determines how well we take correction.
When God disciplines us, he makes us aware of what is generically called “sin.” Sin is doing something contrary to God’s law and His will for us. What is God’s will? That we love Him above all else and love our neighbor as ourselves. Any time we put our self-interest above God or our neighbor, we sin.
When God shows us our guilt, it hurts. How much it hurts depends on how soft our heart has become before God. To a person with a hard heart, it is easy to brush off our failings with the attitude that everyone does it. The person with the soft heart understands that our relationship with God is very personal. They also understand how important we are to God, how much he loves us. At that point, we begin to understand how painful our failings are to God. That hurts.
The beauty of a soft heart is that it does not despise the Lord’s discipline. The soft heart knows that discipline is a sign of God’s love for us. The soft heart knows that discipline reshapes us into God’s image. The end of discipline is the joy of pleasing God.
Application: Avoid discipline by striving to know God better and please him in everything you do.
Food for Thought: How can we tell if we despise God’s discipline?
One way we can dispose the Lord’s discipline is to reject it. If we sense God is pruning is in some way and refuse to cooperate and continue with the same attitude or behavior He is correcting; then we are actively rebelling even further by rejecting His attempts to help us. Unfortunately, being a slow learner, I can be pretty dense when it comes to discipline. Of course, that only leads to further discipline at greater intensity.
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