Discipline for the Disciple :: Deeper Devotion

Discipline for the Disciple

January 25, 2009

by Tim Wade

Proverbs 3:12
For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

As Christians we must never forget our relational position with GOD. We are His children. He is our Father. We accepted these life roles when we accepted His Son, Jesus, to be our Lord and Savior. In so doing, we accepted the love and discipline that comes with that relationship.

One of the biggest obstacles that Christians face as children of GOD is that they confuse discipline with punishment. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. From this we can see that there really is only one punishment for sin, death. When we sin after we have been saved, and GOD takes us to the proverbial woodshed, we are receiving His discipline, not His punishment. Jesus was punished for our sins by being crucified. His death paid the price for our sin, and set us free, but within that freedom there are still boundaries in which we must live.

To walk outside of those boundaries is to sin. In His infinite love for us, however, our Heavenly Father shows us back to the path of righteousness, lest we stray too far and wander into dangerous territory. The idea here is not that GOD wants to bind us to some cruel, sadistic lifestyle, but rather He wants to lead us into the abundant life promised by Jesus. In order to accomplish this, we as His children must grow up. Like little children we must also become mature, or perfect. Colossians 3:14 calls love the bond of perfection. It can therefore be said that as we grow in Christ we must learn to love, and what parent who truly loves their child wouldn’t discipline them so as to be able to give to them the very best he has to offer?

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).