As today begins and I reflect upon God’s blessings, I think of how important it is for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to listen to His direction and prompting. Jesus told us that He would be sending the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us into all truth and so we need to be willing and obedient to hear and respond to His direction and prompting! We know that we don’t know it all and I have found that the more I know the more I don’t know and so I need to lean in and trust God even more! We know that since we don’t know it all there will be times we may try to go it our own way and end up off track or heading in the totally wrong direction and so we will need to be disciplined by God because we know that He disciplines those whom He loves!
Now let’s pause for a second because the word “discipline” depending on how you were raised or how you grew up may trigger feelings and emotions that don’t speak love. So we need to turn to God’s Word in order to grab a hold of the discipline that is being spoken of and that we should be modeling as dads. We need to be able to grab a hold of the reality that discipline isn’t about punishment but rather about instruction and/or guidance! Let’s be the dads who put and have God’s law in our hearts and then teach it to our kids in every aspect of their lives together whether at play, work, or at rest, thus disciplining them!
Proverbs speak to us:
‘Do not withhold discipline from the child; If you swat him with a reed-like rod [applied with godly wisdom], he will not die. You shall swat him with the reed-like rod And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead). ‘
Proverbs 23:13-14
Hebrews speak to us:
‘You have not yet struggled to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the divine word of encouragement which is addressed to you as sons, “My son , do not make light of the discipline of the Lord , And do not lose heart and give up when you are corrected by Him ; For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves , And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [ to His heart ].” You must submit to [correction for the purpose of] discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Now if you are exempt from correction and without discipline, in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate children and not sons [at all]. Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we submitted and respected them [for training us]; shall we not much more willingly submit to the Father of spirits, and live [by learning from His discipline]? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for only a short time as seemed best to them; but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose]. So then, strengthen hands that are weak and knees that tremble. Cut through and make smooth, straight paths for your feet [that are safe and go in the right direction], so that the leg which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather may be healed. Continually pursue peace with everyone, and the sanctification without which no one will [ever] see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; and [see to it] that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears. ‘
Hebrews 12:4-17
Looking into what the characteristics of biblical discipline are, I found the following:
- Biblical discipline begins by establishing parental authority.
- Biblical discipline is an expression of love.
- Biblical discipline focuses on the Gospel.
- Biblical discipline leads to repentance.
- Biblical discipline applies God’s methods in Scripture.
Now that we have been able to reset our understanding of what discipline is, let’s prepare for today’s devotional and what it will have to speak to us and help us to be the dads God has called, purposed, and created us to be!
Today’s devotional shares the following description with us:
Some reflections about my journey, and rediscovery of the love of our Heavenly Father, since becoming a dad to my now 4 year old daughter, Amelie Snow. I pray it blesses you.
BECOMING A GODLY FATHER
Scripture from Today’s Devotional:
‘My son, do not reject or take lightly the discipline of the Lord [learn from your mistakes and the testing that comes from His correction through discipline]; Nor despise His rebuke, For those whom the Lord loves He corrects, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. ‘
Proverbs 3:11-12
God’s Word should be our source of wisdom as it is active and alive, never returning void. God’s Word is sharp enough to cut through the noise and distraction and get right to the core of the situation. Let’s be the dads who dedicate ourselves to putting God’s law in our hearts and then teach it to our kids in every aspect of their lives together whether at play, work, or at rest! Let’s be the dads who receive discipline from God so that we can learn from our mistakes rather than continue to repeat them! Let’s be the dads who accept discipline from God so that we can pass the tests that come our way from our past lessons and learning! Let’s be the dads who accept and receive God’s rebuke knowing that He loves us and that’s why He is correcting us similarly use this model to love on, train, and teach our kids through lovingly correcting them so as God delights in us we can delight in our kids and help them to receive correction from God knowing that He delights in them too!
Today’s devotional has been provided to us by About The Publisher (biblesociety.org.au).
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
For more information, please visit biblesociety.org.au.
Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Discipline Equals Love“
- Today’s devotional is broken out into three parts: reflection, question, and prayer.
- Let’s be the dads who are continuous learners and as such realize that God will continue to instruct and guide us all the days of our lives aka discipline us!
- Let’s be the dads who realize that discipline isn’t about punishment but rather it is about love!
- Let’s be the dads who learn to become “appreciative of God’s discipline in my life“!
- Let’s be the dads who understand that God’s discipline is for our own good!
- Let’s be the dads who when we need to discipline our own kids express it out of love and in love rather than out of anger and frustration so that they know it is for their good!
- Let’s be the dads who lovingly instruct and guide our kids when they need it rather than losing it and causing them to think it is a punishment rather than a correction being done out of love!
- Today’s devotional provides us with this question to ponder:
- Today’s devotional closes with the following prayer:
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