No one likes getting in trouble. No one likes punishments. Heck, no one likes correction PERIOD!

However, I am learning as a parent, even the person dishing out the consequences does not like the process.

It is so hard to sit and watch my son not be able to play his guitar… though the consequence fits the action.

It is so hard to see my other son upset that he cannot play a game he really likes to play… though this punishment is 100% applicable to the action.

It is hard to follow through on the consequences because I just want to go enjoy our relationship and hobbies together. Recently I caught some of my homeschooled children rushing through their schoolwork to finish early… so the consequence is that school goes until a certain time no matter how fast you do your schoolwork. The punishment fits the crime. It is accurate. It is improving the quality of learning… But MAN is it hard to follow through. Last Friday, I just wanted to stop school at lunchtime and go hiking on a beautiful day… but I HAD to follow through with the consequence.

Poor choices result in consequences. But those consequences do not just affect us. They affect everyone around us.

But what kind of parent would I be if I did not correct my children? What kind of teacher would I be if I let my kids do whatever they want? What kind of child would I raise without discipline?

As I sit and reflect on this aspect of parenting, I’m starting to see God’s discipline a little differently. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God’s people turn back into their sin, and God’s discipline was to hand them over to their sins or allow them to live in captivity. That must have broken God’s heart! I can barely follow through with a one-week grounding! Yet God loved His people enough to follow through with His discipline.

Today discipline looks a little different. Thanks to Jesus and the Cross, we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, but we also have the Holy Spirit living within us! We have an advocate, an intercessor, a direct access to the Father.

 Yes, no one likes correction, but a conviction from the Spirit means you are HIS. He is completing a good work in you.

⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

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?

Hebrews 12:5-7

Today I am thankful for discipline from the Lord. This conviction not only strengthens and changes me, but it also reminds me I am HIS child! He loves me enough to discipline me.