Divine Discipline

Discipline, in the sense of submission to an authority, is often neglected or totally abandoned in the politically-correct world today.  We live in a society that is more concerned with satisfaction and comfort than with truth actualized in life.  Because of this, many people believe that discipline is no longer necessary or that it is an appalling relic from bygone days.  In contrast, the Bible has much to say in regards to God's disciplinary intentions, disciplining those whom He loves for the purpose of pruning them for growth.

Scripture, particularly Proverbs, presents the discipline of the Lord in a unified and direct manner.  For one, the Lord disciplines the ones that He loves (Psa. 94:12; Pro. 3:11-12).  Pruning is necessary in order to guarantee and maintain fruit-bearing potential.  If we are to become the people that God intends us to be, we must be willing to submit to His discipline like clay bends to the will of the potter's hands.

Therefore, discipline is to be loved and desired for its effects (Pro. 10:17; 12:1), because we understand that discipline means that God loves us.  Moreover, we may also take hope and comfort in discipline, understanding that God has plans to build and prune us by His will and for His purposes (Jer. 29:11-13).  We should not dislike discipline but we should take joy in that God is pruning us.

Additionally, we should recognize that neglecting discipline has consequences (Pro. 5:23; 13:18; 15:5; 15:32).  If we do not heed to discipline's compulsions, we walk in danger of future, if not eternal, repercussions.  Because of this, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's disciplinary promptings for if we ignore them, there will be consequences for our negligence.

Furthermore, parents need understand the necessity for proper discipline, not harsh but consistent and not wrathful but purposefully loving.  If we are to raise a generation of people bound by truth and accountable to God, then we need to employ the pruning tools of discipline, with Spirit-led and wise discretion, of course.  Scripture, again, speaks directly in this regard that a parent is obligated to discipline their child for the benefit of the child (Pro. 19:18; 23:13).

Scripture is not divided on this issue, nor is Proverbs the only place that speaks of our obligation to heed to discipline, not out of obligation but out of joy and love for the Lord (see Heb. 3-7).  When the Lord disciplines us, or when our spiritual leaders discipline us according to the Word, we should take it humbly as well as with joy, acknowledging that it is out of love and for pruning that we are being disciplined.  Praise be to God that He would love us so much as to discipline us by His will, for His purposes, and for our good!