The Discipline of the Father

(Hebrews 12:3-11)

Childhood memories of discipline can be powerful and sometimes painful. If love is not the guiding force of discipline, our spirits may be broken into shards of bitterness and resentment.

The consequential differences between discipline and punishment are love and purpose.

My mother was quick to discipline in the way she reasoned to be appropriate and just.  My father was quick to extend mercy, intervening when he thought the punishment didn’t fit the crime.  My sister and I never doubted the devotion of our young parents.  Love was the banner over our home. We knew we were cherished daughters, and we understood our parents expectations of us were anchored by love.

The writer of Hebrews sets out the necessity for discipline as a means to deter destruction, and to reap the rewards of a disciplined life.

The motive of discipline is to express love and to teach obedience. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.”  (Hebrews 12: 6-9)

The result of discipline is short-term pain and long-term gain. “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  (Hebrews 12:10)

Our model of discipline and obedience is the Lord Jesus Christ. “ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:3)

“My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)