5
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,
6 because
the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and
he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his
children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If
you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not
legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.
11
No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms
and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”
so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
[NIV]
This devotion continues the thought
from yesterday’s devotion. Yesterday the author of Hebrews encouraged
Christians not to grow weary when faced with trials and suffering because we
are not suffering anything the saints who went before us did not suffer. They
continued running their race in the midst of persecution and trials and
remained faithful. In addition, Jesus endured persecution and suffering but did
not waver in but kept running the race so that ever person of the world could
be saved from sin and death. We must continue to run the race because we are
like them and they continued their race. That was point one.
Point two was that the great crowd of
witnesses watching us from heaven as we live our lives in the trials and
persecutions (in addition to the times of joy and exhilaration) cheer us on to
remain faithful and endure to the end. We have a cheering section at the
stadium who encourage us to keep running, not to give up.
In today’s passage, we hear the writer’s
words in our minds and recognize God’s voice telling us our times of trial are
permitted to affect us so that we can be disciplined. Any athlete who is good
or wants to be good at his sport disciplines his or her body so that the
muscles work like a well-oiled machine. The muscles are trained by the
determination of the person’s mind.
That is what our trials are like. They
are discipline. Discipline is not punishment or chastisement, but a way to
develop the body or person. God allows trials to come to develop and grow us to
be more like Him, to be more righteous and holy. The writer said this in the
verse seven when he said, “Endure hardship like discipline.” Discipline is not
punishment, but training. It is a growing experience to mature our minds,
hearts, and bodies.
The writer of Hebrews used the analogy
of a father disciplining his child. When the child is more mature, he or she
sees what the father did as a positive thing, a way to mature the child so that
he or she would be a properly functioning adult and member of society. That
father is compared to Father God. God allows trials to grow His children to be
mature in their faith as well as righteous and holy – like Himself.
That is the first point – we are to
look at trials as discipline, an opportunity to grow. So look at it in that way
when you face a difficult time. How can you grow from that difficult time? What
does God want you to learn from that experience?
The second point of this passage is
that we each have to determine for ourselves to strengthen our mind, heart, and
body for the task of growing through the trial. We must decide in our minds that
we will get through it, realize it is an opportunity to be used for Father God
(heart), and then focus ourselves and our bodies to be strong and endure. By
doing this, our faith grows and our bodies are more prepared to live the
Christian life on earth as a more pure, righteous, and holy child of God. That
is strengthening our feeble arms and legs and making paths straight.
Choose to be trained by trials and
suffering. Choose to stand strong in your faith so that God can make you more
like Christ – holy and righteous. Being a child of God requires the head,
heart, and body – mind, soul, and body. Choose to be disciplined and grow more
like Christ. When we go through trials and grow stronger in our faith, we can
then say as Paul did in Romans 5:3-5,
"We also
glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured
out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
[NIV]
