Monday, November 16, 2009

For My Good

This is a much needed reminder from James MacDonald, thanks James!

For My Good

The Weekly Walk

"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." - Hebrews 12:7 - 8

I would have been a better behaved kid if I could have been a parent first.

Kids just don't understand what parents try to do for them. If you're a parent, don't you wish that your kids could see that every action that you take towards them, even imperfectly, is out of love? But they don't always get that.

When I was an adolescent, I remember thinking my parents were so confused. Then I grew up and, as Mark Twain mused, I was amazed at how much they had learned.

I thought it was hard when I had to discipline my kids when they were young. Little kids are a quite a handful. When your kids get older and you must let them experience the consequences of their choices, they become quite a "heartful." Especially when you can't step in and keep the pain from happening. You have to watch them suffer the cost of their decisions. For sure, "heartful" is harder than handful.

How is it with you today? Are you in a difficult circumstance as a discipline from your loving Father? Do you feel His sadness that it had to come to this in order for you to learn? I don't want to get older and still be an adolescent Christian. I want to grow up in the Lord and trust my heavenly Father even when I don't understand what He's doing. I want to believe that the Lord is way smarter than me. He gets it. His discipline is for my good.

Hebrews 12:7-8 tells the good but hard truth: “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” Your Father loves you. Everything He allows is for your growth and good. He sees the long picture, even when you can’t. I wonder how I make God’s heart sad when I don’t understand that He lovingly draws near to me even in times of learning (See Psalm 34:18).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks Ron, that is so helpful for me right now with some circumstances i've been working through. i'm so glad that even when God disciplines, that He is still a loving Father.

Ron Reffett said...

Hey Emily, I'm glad that you took some encouragement from this. I have been experiencing some of the discipline from the Father's hand, but as you said I'm very thankful for the perfect balance of love and discipline. He's worthy of our trust.
Blessings
Ron