03/17/2022
As the children of God we are loved, but with God’s love comes His responsibility to raise us up to be righteous, and good. Raising our own children requires us to show them our love, to have patience with them, and to teach them how to behave in faith as we have learned to do. We teach them goodness, humility, and many godly things, but in order to learn these behaviors they must be obedient, and for this lesson to be mastered it often requires that they be disciplined. It is the same with our Heavenly Father as He teaches us to obey Him, and to reflect His traits and attributes… to become like Jesus. The heart of discipline is not punishment, or subservience, but instruction, and correction.
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:11 ESV
When we discipline our children we should do so as God disciplines us. We shouldn’t use it to break the spirits of our children, or to inflict unwarranted pain on them, but to teach them how to control themselves and properly consume, and use the fruits of righteousness, which are goodness mercy, love, and the others. God empowers us when He gives us these fruits, and with that power there comes great responsibility. To use, and not abuse, God’s gifts, we must be in control of ourselves. Self-control is the result of self-discipline, and these two words are often used interchangeably.
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
As children we are told to honor, or respect, our parents, and this continues into adulthood, but there is more to this equation than just this. We often hear this verse quoted when parents are dealing with unruly or disobedient children, but we choose to remove, or ignore, reading the verse that precedes it. So let’s read what we typically quote…
““Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),”
Ephesians 6:2 ESV
And now let’s read what immediately precedes it, because it tells us what we are to obey our parents in… in the Lord.
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
Ephesians 6:1 ESV
We are not all blessed with good and righteous parents, and some of the discipline, and things that these bad parents teach, are not good. As a matter of fact they can be sinful to their core. So we are taught two very different things here… our commandment is to honor (or respect) our parents, but the only requirement regarding obedience is to obey them in what they teach us that is in the Lord… our obedience, and the commandment to honor, are tempered in this way. God is always good, but human parents are not, so we are told to obey them in what is of God, and this is to protect us against their lessons of sin.
“For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”
Hebrews 12:10 ESV
I was observing the proceedings in night court one evening, and two women were led into the courtroom in handcuffs followed by several small children. They had been arrested at a local Walmart for shoplifting… stealing. I watched as they were questioned, and as their children played in the courtroom as if they had been there many times before. I thought about honoring your parents that night, and considered God’s Word regarding obedience. I saw firsthand the lessons these children were being taught, and although these two women were their parents and meant to be honored, I saw the importance of how God had left an escape for them by limiting their obedience to what is of Himself.
One day these kids will face discipline for the behaviors they were being taught. They might receive it at the hand of the court system, in the home of foster parents, or from God Himself, but when discipline and correction comes they will be given release from obeying what their mothers taught them today, and the discipline will not be abusive. My prayer for them is that they will realize the difference between respecting bad parents, and obeying them in ungodly lessons. On that day they will make a choice regarding which direction they will walk, and I pray that God’s discipline will bear fruit in them.
““Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.”
Job 5:17-19 ESV
We will all face discipline in our lives, and for believers, and nonbelievers alike, some will be at the hand of God. We will realize that unlike the world’s discipline, and especially what we receive at the hand of bad teachers, God’s correction will always be good, and dealt out lovingly. So when we are being disciplined look for the lesson it is meant to teach, and pay close attention to whether He is leading us away from sinful lessons taught in bad homes, or by false prophets.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us, teaching us obedience to your Word, and disciplining us patiently, and lovingly, whenever we stray from your lessons. Thank you for being our good and perfect Father, and for giving us release from the sinful lessons of earthly parents. Open our eyes to what is right, and give us self-control as we exercise the power in the gifts you have given us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who disciplines us, your children, and leads us into obedience, and righteousness. Praised be your name for every correction that your discipline brings, and every gift we receive. Help us Lord to not only obey, but to obey and exercise your gifts by learning to control, and discipline ourselves. Have mercy on us Father by giving us escape when we find ourselves in a household controlled by bad and sinful lives parents. Teach us to discern between sin and righteousness. Cleanse us with the blood of your Son Jesus, and by your forgiveness, lift from us the penalty of sin and death. Judge us worthy, and call us your children Lord; then seat us at your table forevermore.
“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.”
2 Corinthians 7:9-11 ESV
Rich Forbes