One of my summer league coaches was Mr. Austin. We
were drilled on what he called “situational baseball.” All 9 defenders were on
the field and there would be people on base. Mr. Austin would hit the ball at
someone. He was less concerned about whether the ball was caught, but more
concerned about what was done with the ball after it was caught. He wanted to
make sure his defense was playing properly.
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His son, Tim, asked him why we did this drill.
(Batting practice was much more fun!). Mr. Austin replied, “We are going to
have a disciplined team that knows how to play the game.”
Today’s reading is Hebrews 12:3-11, and it is
about discipline. God disciplines his Sons; he disciplines those he loves.
When I think of discipline, I sometimes think of
punishment. When my dad said I was being disciplined to a friend that wanted me
to come out and play, that meant I was being punished and was not allowed out
of my room for a while.
In these cases, my dad used the term discipline to
imply I had done something wrong. Mr. Austin used the term because he had high
expectations of his players.
When God disciplines us, today’s verses tell us it
may not be pleasant for us. Nonetheless, we should accept discipline and learn
from it.
Why does God discipline us? We are all capable of
doing the wrong things. God disciplines, that is punishes us, when we do the
wrong things. After all, there are consequences for our sin.
God also has high expectations of us, extremely
high expectations. His discipline may not be because we did something wrong,
but rather because He desires us to get better at what we are doing, much like the
desires of Mr. Austin.
When you are disciplined by God, use it as a
learning experience. Either correct what
you are doing wrong, or do a better job of what you are doing.
All of Jesus’ disciples will be disciplined!
