DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD

DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons?—

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor lose courage when you are punished by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Our response to the discipline of the Lord is multi-fold:

1.       Acknowledge it. – it is not a mistake, a misfortune, an injustice.

2.       Accept it. – we can fight it; or we can submit and learn.

3.       Adapt from it. – we can learn, be molded, be transformed by it.

4.       Adore it.  – “count it all joy…”

5.       Ask for it! – “Lord, drive out the darkness within me…”