There is a TV reality show that I often catch at lunchtime. It's my distraction from church business as I eat lunch. This program has helped me understand a concept that stirs up rebellion; a concept I will normally push aside because it gets in my way. It's the concept of discipline.
The show features a British nanny who comes to rescue discipline-less American homes. Children in these highlighted families run wild, are destructive, and dangerous to themselves and their siblings. Nanny comes in and immediately puts a stop to the unruly behavior. She begins by training the parents to retrain their children. She teaches mom and dad to lower their voices to a firm tone. They look the child in the eyes and explain that he/she will be punished. When the bad behavior continues, the parents follow through with the promised punishment--a "time out." Once the required time elapses, Nanny instructs the parents to approach the child in a more gentle voice, explaining again why they were punished, asking the little one for an apology, and then concluding the discipline with a hug and love. The transformations in these families is amazing. And it all begins with training and correction of the parents. The parents are disciplined to instill discipline. And peace comes to their households.
The writer of Hebrews affirms this principle: 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 12:11 ESV). There is pain in being disciplined because it is a restraint. It restricts us from doing what we want to do, and therefore our wills fight--they rebel--against the discipline.
But it is discipline that trains us to resist the things that get us in trouble. Like the children on the nanny show who draw on the walls of their homes, who wallop on their brothers and sisters, who throw dramatic temper tantrums and hold their breath, we also suffer the shock of having our self-centered actions come to an abrupt end when our Heavenly Father places us in "time-out."
How blessed I am to have a Father who loves me enough to reign me in before I run wild. But to be honest, giving thanks is not my first response to His discipline. What comes first is resentment. I cry out to Him with whining and complaining. I carry on about the injustice done to me...about how I don't deserve the troubles I have to endure.
Yet even in my temper tantrums of recent times, God has been speaking messages about perseverance, about sticking with things to the end (the end of my time-out), about not giving up. The discipline has come not because I needed punishment for some wrong-doing; it has come to correct me, to train me in better practices. Discipline has come so that I would examine the tough issues, and my role in them.
It has been painful at times, but I will stick with it. I will trust that God is working good in this discipline. He is working to perfect me, to grow and mature me so that I will bear fruits of righteousness. How can I NOT respect Him for that?
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