Our Father's Firm & Faithful Hand
7 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? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it, (Hebrews 12:7-11).
A father who loves his children does not stand idle when they are indulging in sin. He does not turn a blind eye to the corrupt attitudes and actions of his children’s hearts. He does not make excuses for them in order to shift away the blame for what they are freely choosing to do.
Whether their sin be selfishness, pride, unbelief, rebellion, theft, unsubmissiveness, or some varied array of worldly lusts—a father’s love for the souls of his children brings forth his firm hand of discipline. His love compels him to righteously punish his children for their sin and to properly counsel them in what is good and right.
A loving father is one who intentionally stands in the way of his children’s sin because he knows that if they are left to themselves without discipline, their rebellion will only grow deeper in root and more flagrant in expression. Loving fathers do not fail to do all that is within their responsibility to teach their children to walk faithfully before the Lord.
In like manner to this earthly picture of faithful fatherhood, consider now the perfect fatherhood of God. Those whom he loves and calls his very own, he disciplines in love for their good. He brings firm and consistent punishments and consequences into the lives of his children when they are wandering from his Word. He does not hesitate to chastise and rebuff the souls of his people when they begin to spurn his counsel and rebel against his commands. He does not fail to be unto us exactly what he promised he would be in our blessed adoption through Christ: a loving and faithful Father.
Do you bless God for his firm and loving hand of discipline in your life?
Do you praise him for not letting your sinful heart have its own way?
Do you thank him for halting your course when you have begun to stray from the green pastures of his grace?
Beloved, it is because our heavenly Father is merciful that he will not hesitate to make his straying children miserable in their sinful pursuits. Indeed, we can all affirm that “for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant,” (Heb. 12:11). But let us never forget that the end of his designs is always “for our good, that we may share in his holiness,” (Heb. 12:10).