DISCIPLINE

PASTOR RYAN LADEN – DEVOTIONALS

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Patience, self-control, and discipline. These are three of the most needed and the most unwanted fruit of the Holy Spirit. We all know we need them and that the Lord will lead us into each of them in his time and according to his will, but most of us simply do not enjoy the experience.  

In today’s reading from Proverbs three, we hear how the Lord brings his unique form of discipline into our lives. We might not like this discipline in the moment, but if we know the purpose for the pain is to help us mature as beloved children of God, we will be able to embrace this hardship as an example of God’s father-like love for us. 

We can hear more in the passage below:

11 My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

(Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV11)

Resentment

What would it look like in your life to resent the rebuke or the correction of your Heavenly Father? When we see this kind of resentment in others after they have been caught in the act or after they have been chastised for bad behavior, we see that their anger toward this discipline has more to do with being caught or called out than with that which they are being corrected. 

Let me give you a personal example. 

When we lived in Australia, I struggled with all of the speeding cameras. I began to resent these machines so much that I would talk about them all the time. I could not stand the way they ruthlessly snapped your picture and sent you a fine without giving you a chance to defend yourself or justify your actions. I never denied that speeding was a problem, nor did I pretend that I was not a habitual speeder. But I really hated the way that this discipline was delivered. 

Delight

The Lord brings his form of discipline and rebuke into our lives, not to embitter us and make us resent his will, but to protect us and care for us. The Lord’s discipline comes only to those loved deeply by the Lord. God delights in you and wants you to stay away from the consequences of sin and rebellion. 

The author of Hebrews expands on this idea in the passage below:

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. 

9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 

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.

(Hebrews 12:7-11 NIV11)

Trained

In verse eleven, we hear the purpose of God’s gift of discipline. As the Lord moves in us to draw us away from attitudes, desires, actions, and habits that are harmful for us and for our witness in the world, we are trained by this discipline. 

To be trained by God is to be disciplined by God. The more that we embrace God’s loving hand of correction and rebuke, the more we step away from the influence of this world and enter into the embrace of the Father.

Reward

This training leads to a harvest of righteousness and peace. These are the rewards that await the child of God who allows the Holy Spirit to convict us of the sins in our lives while allowing the Lord to move in us and set us on a different path. That narrow path is challenging and comes at a high price, but it leads to eternal life. 

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, I choose today to stop resisting your loving correction. On faith, I embrace your discipline and ask you to lead me away from areas of sin and rebellion by the power of your Holy Spirit. I submit to you and thank you for loving me enough to get involved. Thank you Jesus. 

In Christ, 

Ryan Laden

PASTOR RYAN LADEN

Works at MTN. CHURCH

Former Senior pastor at Warnbro Community Church

Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Studied at Baylor University

Studied at Texas Tech University

Went to Castle Hills First Baptist

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