God's Discipline

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" Hebrews 12:6-7

There's a terrible misunderstanding among believers today about God's method of disciplining His children. They'll point to some kind of disaster-- a tornado or a car accident-- and say, "I guess God sent that catastrophe to teach us something." No, He didn't! A loving God doesn't send death and destruction on His children to instruct them. He doesn't unleash His bad dog to bite us on the leg, so we'll learn to wear our boots! How does He chastise His own? With His Word.

And Timothy 3:16-17 says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed--given by His inspiration--and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work" (The Amplified Bible). If you'll look in 2 Corinthians 7, you'll see an example of this. There the Apostle Paul talks about a situation in the Corinthian church that needed correction. That church had gotten out of line and had to be disciplined. How did Paul do it? Not by asking God to send an earthquake to shake them up! He did it by writing them a letter. He wrote them a word of reproof that hurt so badly they would have preferred being beaten with a stick. It cut deep into their spirits and brought them to repentance. Your heavenly Father loves you and because He does, He will chasten you. But He'll do it with spiritual, not fleshly tools. He'll use the spirit power in His Word to chasten unbelief and purify your spirit in such a way that you'll come out strong, not weak and condemned. So quit bowing down to disasters and start subjecting yourself instead to the Word of God. Yield to the Word. Let it correct you and trim away the flesh and the lusts that lead you astray. Remember, the Sword of the Spirit is two-edged--one side is for Satan and the other side is for you. Let God use it to keep you in line!

SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Corinthians 7