Discipline & Love

Hebrews 12:7-9 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!

LOVE. Love is willing the best for another. When we love someone we desire what is best for them. What is best for them – the greatest good – may not always be what is enjoyable. As parents, guardians, and those who care for children, we understand that we often have to discipline our children, much to their dismay. But in this letter to the Hebrew believers, the author is them to endure the hardships they go through as they would the loving discipline of a loving father.

How do we do that? We receive it without resentment, understanding that although it hurts, it is not an act of retaliation or abuse. Rather, it is designed to help guide us, to build in us the character God desires, to teach us, to prepare us for the next things to come in our lives….

Endure hardship as loving discipline from the Father and live!