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 12:11
In a perfect
world (and we know about this because there actually was one of those),
discipline isn’t necessary. All creation knows and does only what is good,
right and beneficial. The world we live in has thorns, thistles and lots of bad
choices attractively packaged and readily available—for both puppies and
people.
As the verse
says, “no discipline seems pleasant at
the time,” but discipline is not punishment. The unpleasant aspect of
discipline is meant to shape our choices away from the dangers of the world to
the good God intends. That is why canine parents show approval and why human
parents dispense good words and good things as a reward for desired
improvement. In each case—whether they realize it or not-- they are imitating
the way God does things.
Godly
discipline is designed to lead us away from the present and into a better future.
True discipline has one outcome: to re-form us into a new image for a new and
better purpose.
Imagine a piece
of wood being shaved to a point by the whittler’s knife. If it could talk, it
would complain about the pain and “loss of self” as the shavings fell away. But
at the end of the process, the whittler’s effort would reveal a hidden shaft of
carbon running the length of the wood. In the hands of an artist, that piece of
wood could become a drawing instrument capable of creating art of great beauty.
The whittler’s purpose was not to inflict loss, but to reveal a higher purpose
hidden in the wood.
Nancy Shirah
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