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How do you honestly answer that question?
I am not sure most of us like it very much in nearly all its forms because it means we cannot do or be what we want. That includes not wanting anything or anyone to be in control of us. We are not unlike the unbroken horses that want to run free without bit, bridle, or reins. In different ways we can fight those as they do. And it starts early in childhood when a parent or adult stands in our way from the food, toy, or anything else we want. We are not yet old enough to know what is harmful or not good for us but is it possible remnants of that linger in us well into adulthood?
Our responses to discipline are shaped by more than one or two things. Does whoever is doing the discipline show us love consistently or does the discipline we receive come in a torrent of anger and disappointment in us? Does it come with words of gentle guidance?
Whatever each of us answers to these questions gets projected onto God. No matter how wonderful our parents may have been, we only have one perfect parent, Father God. His disappointment and anger at the sin of mankind was satisfied by Jesus’ offer and willingness to be the pure sacrificial lamb on the cross, so if we accept Him means we never need to live in fear of God’s anger.
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“On your worst , most rebellious, and most faithless day, you can run into the holy presence of your heavenly Father and he will not turn you away. Your acceptance has not been and never will be, based on your performance. You have not been welcomed into an eternal relationship with God because you kept the law, but because Jesus did. If you obey God for a thousand years, you have not earned more of his acceptance than you were granted the very first time you believed.”
Paul Tripp
We get it wrong when we think that means He will not discipline us and relates to how we struggle with grace. Too often we believed we weren’t loved when we were disciplined. We didn’t understand not running into the street was an issue or that eating too much candy or ice cream would make us sick. As adults our own self-discipline is not always strong or healthy and it gets even more out of focus if a rigid discipleship program misses the unbelievable foundation of our relationship with God – grace.
Why?
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Because sometimes we believe discipline is punishment as we have experienced it but not so with a relationship with God through Christ. Christ took all the punishment for our misdeeds, failures, and unwise choices from the past, now, and in the future. God’s discipline is meant to transform us in ways we cannot imagine, not limit or deny us his love or the best He desires for us. It’s not teaching us how to earn our place with Him or his goodness. Only when we see ourselves as we truly are can we be in wonder at his love and grace. Our love pales in comparison even on our better or best days.
Christ denied himself everything to the point of crying out on the cross as the Godman, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” How blind we are when we miss the enormity of that even as we reflect on this during the Lenten season and approach Good Friday.
We have a much harder time with denial even if we give up one or two things to commemorate Lent. As Lent draws closer to an end and Easter, we already can be tempted to count down the days until we can have what we gave up for a brief time. What do we really know about sacrifice?
Perhaps many revere those who gave so much for so many during the horrors of WW II is because of the evidence of sacrifice starkly played out in front of us. Little wonder they are called “the Greatest Generation.” Have we forgotten what they gave everything for? Have we as believers missed how much transformation is still needed in each of our lives?
Grace reminds us we are entitled to nothing but were given everything.
“God’s discipline is an instrument of his grace. It is a continuation of his work of personal heart-and-life transformation, God’s discipline is not him turning his angry back on us. It is God turning his face of grace toward us once again, and he will continue to do this until his grace has finished its work.”
Paul Tripp
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