Discipline a Painful Must?

There is this parent who loved her child so much. To her, it was as if the child was everything. She spends time with her child, shower him with love and care and was just so loving her son. One day, her son was caught stealing her money. She caught him. She scolded him and with tears rolling down her cheek, she took the cane out and spanked him.

Now, that was discipline out of love. How? Imagine what would have happened if the mother had just closed her eyes? The child will grow up thinking he can get away with stealing and one fine day, he will be caught by the long arms of the law. Wouldn't that hurt the mother even more? In this sense, she disciplined him out of love.

Hebrews 12:3-17 reminds us today once again that sin still occurs and that as long as we have life on this earth, the struggle with sin will never end. God will discipline us because we are His children. It is His desire that we share in His holiness and so He disciplines us out of love. The author exhorts us by saying that the trials that we are going through are but discipline for God. That this trails and discipline, though it may seem painful, will later yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So no matter what discouragement and painful situations you may be facing that may seem bleak, know that this is just training from the Lord. The Lord will give you strength and it is through this training that we will come out of it a better person, yielding the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Thank You, Lord.