Now that he's given us many encouraging examples to follow, the author of Hebrews reminds us that hardships come into our lives for various reasons. He uses the word "discipline", a word that tends to make us think of punishment. Sometimes God does send hardship into our lives in order to correct us, as we will see today. Other times He allows us to go through tough times in order to make us stronger, as we will also see today. Think of it this way: when you want to get into better physical shape, what activities help you reach your goals faster---easy exercises or difficult exercises? Spiritual muscle works the same way. It's not built by hopping over the easy hurdles, but by climbing the mountains.
In yesterday's passage the author told us to keep our eyes on Jesus for encouragement, for He endured more than we ever have endured, and yet He stayed strong. This is where we pick up today with the writer saying, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:4) He's saying something like, "Why do you become discouraged so easily? Doing the right thing hasn't cost you what it cost Jesus."
We can't expect everything to go our way in this world. We will have to fight against the temptation to do wrong. We will have to face hardships too---sometimes because we've brought them on ourselves by sinning against God, other times because God is using hardships to accomplish a purpose in our lives. Whatever the reason for our tribulations, the author quotes the words of King Solomon to point out that we are to accept these situations in the right spirit. "And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, 'My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.'" (Hebrews 12:5-6, Proverbs 3:11-12)
A father disciplines his own children, not other people's children. Have you ever seen someone else's child throwing a major tantrum in the middle of the aisle at WalMart and thought to yourself, "If he was my kid he'd be getting a spanking about now."? But of course you don't do anything about the tantrum because he is not your child and you'd get beaten up by his parents (or even arrested by the police) if you tried to discipline him. In this same way, God disciplines only those who are His children. He doesn't overstep and discipline those who don't belong to Him and who are out in the world behaving badly. Of course bad things often happen to people who are living in sin, but the majority of those bad things are happening as a natural consequence of their actions. The remainder of the bad things are either a result of simply having to live in a fallen world where things go wrong, or as a result of God allowing bad things to happen in order to turn them to repentance. If they do not ever repent, God will indeed judge them, but in the meantime their hardships are not a result of being disciplined by God the Father, because He is not their Father. They have not allowed Him to be their Father, although He wants to be.
If God never disciplines us either in order to correct bad behavior or in order to train us to be stronger and more faithful, then we don't belong to Him. "If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all." (Hebrews 12:8) Everyone who is a child of God will be disciplined by the Father. That's what a good father does.
The author now points out that we have no right to resent the discipline of our heavenly Father anymore than we have the right to resent the discipline of our earthly fathers. "Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness." (Hebrews 12:9-10) When we were kids, did we think our fathers had no right to discipline us? Of course not, because we knew they had our best interests at heart. We knew it was their responsibility to bring us up in the right way. I was a stubborn, willful child and my father often got very frustrated with me. I was the baby of the family and it was more often his habit to indulge my whims than to discipline me, but sometimes I gave him no choice. I knew he was in the right when he finally resorted to spanking me or removing a privilege from me. Would I have respected him if he let me get away with anything and everything? I don't think so. How could I? In the same way, would we respect our heavenly Father if He allowed us to repeatedly and purposely violate His instructions? I don't see how we could.
Our earthly fathers sometimes give us difficult tasks to accomplish. These are not intended as punishment but to train us for the future. As we grow physically, we are given more and more responsibilities in the household. God works the same way. As we grow spiritually, we are given more and more responsibilities in the household of God. No one wants their child to live an unprofitable, stagnant life. God doesn't want this either, so He trains us to keep on doing bigger and better things. It's not always going to be fun when given large tasks to complete, but it's going to accomplish a purpose. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)
If we accept correction and training from our Father in the right spirit, it won't discourage us. It won't make us resentful. Instead it will put us in a position to be helped and to be made better than we would have been otherwise. "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 'Make level paths for your feet,' so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed." (Hebrews 12:12-13, Proverbs 4:26) Again the author quotes words that King Solomon said to his own son. Discipline and given by a good father is never intended to discourage a child and make the child give up. It's intended to help the child grow into a mature and talented adult who is capable of handling responsibilities in a godly way. The discipline and training are coming from a loving heart and we accept it as such. We must also accept the discipline and training from God in the same spirit. His intentions are pure. His goal is to use difficult tasks and hard times to make us into stronger, more mature children who have been trained to choose the good over the evil.
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