If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
Hebrews 12:8-10 BSB
As a Christian, understanding who you are is essential to growing up in Christ. You are now officially and experientially a child of God. The first thing He put in your newborn heart was the Spirit of Adoption that made you want to say “Abba, Father!” Depending on your human history, you may not know what a good father does. He provides for his kids and protects his house. He models and teaches righteous living. Because we are family, he also corrects us when we don’t live up to our family values. I am his kid, not his slave or his employee. When I mess up, he doesn’t fire me or beat me or kick me out; he corrects me and teaches me how to do better, to represent the family well.
God is the ultimate Father. In every circumstance, He deals with me as a father with a child, interested only in my well-being and growth. I bear His Name and His image; He wants me to do it well. When I fall short, His first method of correction is His word. We see this repeatedly in the New Testament. His word impacts my reborn spirit, and I am grieved. I respond with sorrow and repentance, and He teaches me how to live to reflect who I am: a child of God. Hearing His word preached is the primary way that this correction comes. In dealing with an unruly group of believers, Paul told Pastor Timothy to “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2 BSB).
Receiving correction from the Father is one of the greatest benefits of being part of a local church with a godly eldership that teaches the Bible. It’s the primary way God has given us for the discipline that allows us to share in His holiness. Let’s go to church today expecting our Father to mold us in His image: Change me, Lord!
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