Hebrews 12:7,10 God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
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God brings hardship into our lives to bring us back to Him when we have wandered away. God’s reproofs are impartial. No Christian is exempt from God’s discipline. Second, God’s reproofs are helpful. Proverbs 3:12 says, “Whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” Notice it doesn’t say, “Whom the Lord loves He condemns.” Instead, God reproves; He disciplines.
What’s the difference? When a murderer is condemned to death, the sentence carries no hope of restoration. That’s our situation before we become Christians. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Because of adultery, lust, greed, idolatry, or any other sin we commit, we’re all guilty before God, and we all deserve the death penalty. But God, in His mercy, has pardoned us from our sin. If we have trusted in Christ as Savior, we don’t have a death sentence hanging over us. We’re no longer condemned.
But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re going to be recipients of God’s discipline–not for our condemnation but for our restoration. God disciplines us because He loves us. Hebrews 12:7, 10 says, “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” The fact that God doesn’t allow us to get away with sin is proof that He loves us. His reproofs are for our good.
When I was a child, I never believed my parents when they were disciplining me and they said, “This is going to hurt me worse than it hurts you.” When I became a parent myself, I finally understood how difficult it is to discipline your children. It would be much easier to let their transgressions slide than to go through the pain of disciplining them. The reason we discipline our kids is that we love them. We want the best for them. We don’t want them to continue on a path that’s going to lead to destruction.
God feels the same way about His children. Hebrews 12:8 says, “If you are without discipline, . . . then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” God’s reproofs are for our good.
