“No discipline seems pleasant at times, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
~ Hebrews 12:11
Hi James and Ellen,
Discipline. What does discipline mean to you? Does discipline sound too much like punishment to you? Discipline is being taught and trained to obey. Are you learning to obey? Discipline is being taught and trained to have self-control. Are you learning to have self-control? Hebrews 12 discusses discipline. God – as God the Spirit, has the Hebrews Book writer convey why and how God – as God the Father, uses the learning and training that has been honed by discipline to embed His truths into the hearts and minds of the guys, gals and kids who He specially elected before He created planet Earth. Your grandpaa thinks that the Hebrews Book writer personally internalized as an absolute his Father God continually disciplining each one of His beloved guys, gals and kids Who He had adopted, that he personally experienced having to endure the hardship of being disciplined by his Father God, that the discipline that he suffered from his Father God was so painful at times that it made him cry but that being disciplined personally by his Father God far outweighed the agonizing torment of being disciplined. Verse 11 “No discipline seems pleasant at times, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” underscores the purpose and value of discipline. Your Father God has given you an earthly dad to teach and train you to be disciplined in what you say and do. What your earthly dad teaches and trains you through discipline is what your earthly dad thinks is the very best for you at that moment on the path that your Father God is directing you. Your Father God will never stop using discipline to teach and train guys, gals and kids – like you, your dad and ma, your grandmaa and grandpaa, your . . . who He specially elected before He created planet Earth, to know Him as being holy and merciful. The only way that you, your dad and ma, your grandmaa and grandpaa, your . . . can really know your Father God’s unmerited mercy and grace is to fail life discipline teaching/training tests. You will invariably fail life teaching/training discipline tests that your Father God is giving you when you try to use or trust in your own abilities and egos to pass the tests.
Your Father God is looking at you right now. If a guy, gal or kid has made a decision of faith to accept what God – as God the Son, did on a cross, he or she is a member of a family of thousands and thousands of other guys, gals and kids who are in the ‘Body of Christ’. Before your God – as God the Father, created planet Earth, He wrote down the names in a book that is in heaven of every guy, gal and kid who make up the ‘Body of Christ’ along with what each guy, gal, and kids will have their Father God have them say and do? Every guy, gal and kid who is in the ‘Body of Christ’ has had his or her spirit made perfect by God – as God the Father, because of the sacrificial death of God – as God the Son, when He mediated for them a new covenant with God – as God the Father, through having His blood poured out while His body was hung and nailed to a cross. You are running in a race right now. The race that God – as God the Father, has His specially elected guys, gals and kids run throughout their lives is a race that is run to escape from the entanglements that sin will cause any guy, gal or kid who stops to engage in sin. Life’s finish line for each guy, gal and kid – which is the moment when one of God’s specially elected guys, gals or kids passes through death’s door into heaven where he or she will come face to face with God – as God the Son, Who will be sitting at the right hand of His Father God as God – as God the Father, Who will be sitting on His heavenly throne, will have a ribbon across it with the words ‘you persevered your Father God’s life discipline tests and trials’.
Do you know how your Father God disciplines His specially elected guys, gals and kids? Your Father God’s discipline life lessons come in all kinds of tests or trials. How do you feel when you are sick? How do you feel when you hear that a guy, gal or kid who you know has been in an accident? How do you feel when a guy, gal or kid who you know has died? Do you talk with God every day? Do you enjoy daily perusing the Bible? Do you do everything every day what your dad and ma and your teacher tell you to do? Learning discipline and being disciplined is an absolute must. When your grandmaa and grandpaa were kids, your grandmaa’s dad and ma and your grandpaa’s dad and ma gave them chores to do. Your grandmaa’s dad and ma and your grandpaa’s dad and ma expected your grandmaa and grandpaa to do the chores that they were assigned to do. Your grandmaa’s ma and dad expected your grandmaa to help with the chores around the house such as cleaning, dusting and waxing furniture, washing dishes, baking and helping in the yard. Your grandpaa’s dad expected your grandpaa to milk two or three cows by hand each morning and to feed the cows each evening along with milking the same two or three cows each evening. Your grandpaa’s dad’s chores for your grandpaa also included cleaning out the gutter in the barn, hauling bedding for the cows, mowing the lawns and herding cows. Your grandmaa’s dad and ma and your grandpaa’s dad and ma taught your grandmaa and grandpaa to be disciplined in going to church every Sunday, reading the Bible every day and praying at all times. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that your Father God will always be giving you discipline life tests or trials to teach you Who He is. Your Father God expects you to trust in Him for His answers and direction. Your Father God know that there will be times when you will fail one of His discipline life tests. Your grandpaa knows from experience that failing a discipline life test has him not wanting to fail the next life test that his Father God gives him because he does like having that empty, guilty feeling of having failed still another life test.
Hebrews 12 (501)