Godly Discipline

Godly Discipline
by Jud Wilhite

DESCRIPTION
Remember, God loves you with perfect love, and, therefore, He disciplines you with perfect discipline.
Hebrews 12:7-8 (NLT): As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.

Godly discipline can take a number of forms. Sometimes God doesn’t open opportunities in our lives until we are ready, or sometimes He will close opportunities we aren’t ready for. Maybe you had wandered from the Lord and only began returning when you lost something important to you. Or you got distracted by something and just sort of forgot God and God gave you a wake up call to remind you to put Him first.

There are a couple ways to react to Godly discipline: fear or frustration. If you project all the imperfections of your earthly parents on God, you are going to be afraid. God will seem unstable or cruel. If you are used to always getting your own way, you may feel offended and put down. But remember, God loves you with perfect love and therefore He disciplines you with perfect discipline. He cares more for your character than your comfort. He cares less about what you want, and more about who you are becoming. Even when you don’t understand, you can trust Him because perfect love drives out all fear. Not perfect understanding. Not perfect control. Perfect love. If He can hold the world together, he can hold your life together, even when it feels like it’s falling apart.