DISCIPLINE

            This has been a very rough week for me. I feel like I’ve spent more time correcting my sons than having good times with them. Today I feel like the nagging mom; “feed the rabbits”, “clean up your room,” “pick up your dirty laundry that’s laying on the floor, right next to your laundry basket,” “do your homework,” and so on. You get the gist.

            But God reminded me just this morning that discipline is part of loving my children. Without discipline, we have chaos. Isn’t that the biggest problem in our current society? People who have grown up without rules and a proper respect for authority. Teenagers and adults who feel entitled to everything without being accountable to anyone.

If that’s what my sons would look like, then I’d rather be the nagging mom than the mother who’s in hiding because her son has taken lives while driving intoxicated. I’d rather be the ‘disciplinarian’ than the mother whose son is on the evening news because he’s committed some felony. I’d rather be the mom who corrects than the mother who looks at her reflection in the mirror and whispers “If only I had…”

            The Bible is full of verses about discipline. But the one that came to mind this morning is found in Hebrews 12: 5-6. “Have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

            God is not indifferent to sin. He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place because sin is against His very essence. He is pure, He is righteous and He cannot tolerate sin. So He chose to send His Son, Jesus-Christ, to die for our sins, so that we might be forgiven and be cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He did all this so that we may abide with Him once we cross into eternity.

            I will not be the mother who is indifferent to my sons’ actions. For then I would be acting against my sons’ best interests. Sure it’s just a chore here, some laziness there. But it is values I am trying to instill into my children’s hearts so they will grow up to be men who respect others, who submit to authority, who speak kindly and show love through their words and their actions.

            And I will not be indifferent toward God’s actions in my own life. If he’s disciplining me, then I need to heed his voice. For I know He loves me and He wants me to glorify Him in all I say and do.

Just as a good mother does for her dear children.