“If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:8)
Read: Hebrews 12:3-11
Devotion: No one likes when they receive discipline. As the author of Hebrews notes at the end Hebrews 12:8, in the moment all discipline is painful (Heb 12:11). Whether it is getting a spanking, being grounded, being placed on probation, or even unpaid leave at work, no one is ever overjoyed to receive these or any other form of discipline.
Not only is the discipline itself painful, but as we’re smarting from the sting, we’re confronted with the consequence of our sin or mistake (like an error at work that lost our company money). However, when it’s done right, we know that our discipline is really a bittersweet moment. Yes, we have erred, and we are rightly facing the consequence of our actions, but we also know that the penalty we are receiving is training us out of committing the same sin or error twice. If we’re viewing our discipline rightly and have come to understood the gravity of our actions, then we can be assured that while our discipline has a momentary painfulness, it is yielding for us an abundant harvest of good (Heb 12:11). In the case of work, we’re sure not going to make the same error twice.
In the case of receiving discipline due to our sin, whether we’re children or adults, we know that we’re being trained out of destructive and deadly habits and having them be replaced with righteous habits that lead to our sanctification and its end, eternal life (v. 11; Rom. 6:22). It’s for this reason that Christian parents discipline their children. Sin leads to death, with God there is salvation and grace through Christ, and the righteously lived life is the wisest and best life to live. Though in the moment the process is parent, even for the parent, parents discipline their children by faith because they love their children and are seeking their ultimate good.
Even unbelievers know this to some degree. While they don’t have a view to eternity, they see negative habits in their children that, if left unchecked, would be destructive for them in this life, and so they discipline their children to train them out of such habits. Again, they do this because they love their children and are seeking their good. Parents who love their children discipline their children (Prov. 13:24).
As we were created in the image of God to reflect Him, so too does our parent-child relationships reflect God’s relationships with His children (Heb 12:7). As such, all those whom God loves, he disciplines for their good (Heb 12:10). Sin kills. Sin separates. Sin destroys. Sin prevents us being conformed to the image of Christ. As Christians we know this truth. However, we also still still battle our flesh, so we sometimes fall for the lies of Satan and the allures of sin. Not only this, but we’re also ignorant. We can often find that we didn’t know some action or pattern of thinking was sin until we’re rebuked of it by a faithful saint or through, our personal Bible reading, or through a sermon. In other words: we are far more sinful than we think or realize.
But because we are God’s children whom he loves, he disciplines us in various ways: A car accident, a spiritually low season where he feels far from us, losing a job, a string of unfortunate incidents, and myriad others that are purposed to expose sin and train us in righteousness. Sometimes we will know in the moment that what we’re experiencing is the disciplining hand of God. Other times, it may take some time for us to realize that what we went through was the chastisement of the Lord, but what we do know in every season of pain is that God is good and that He has brought us into that season for our good.
In the case of those times of discipline in particular, not only do we have the knowledge that the season is training us in godliness, but we also have the added assurance that we are truly children of God because he never leaves one of his children undisciplined (Heb 12:8). Esau was left to run wild, eventually amassing enough power and wealth to have his own personal army. Meanwhile, Jacob was forced to flee his home, was cheated by his uncle, and was left a cripple.
When the brothers finally reunited, on the face of things it would seem that God loved Esau and hated Jacob, yet the opposite was true—Jacob was God’s beloved child, not Esau (see Rom. 9:13). For decades God was disciplining Jacob out of his self-reliant and lying ways, and because of that discipline, Jacob came out as gold (Gen. 35:9-15). God’s love toward Jacob was seen in the disciplined he administered, though in the moment it was painful for Jacob. Let us endure through any discipline that the Lord gives us, knowing that the Lord is treating us as sons.
Ponder and Pray: Meditate on how knowing that God’s discipline serves as a proof of a Christian’s sonship. How does this help us to respond to that discipline rightly? Finish your time by thanking God for his loving discipline in your life.
