That's what Fathers do (Cont'd)
Hebrews 12:5-8 (NKJV)
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Lets continue to consider what we can expect from God as our heavenly Father. We have established that He is there as our protector and provider – let's now look at another great and very important characteristic of a great Father.
Great Fathers chasten (discipline)
This is the one most likely to cause the greatest reaction in people, again because of bad experiences they may have had. But we need to define what chastening really is so that we can understand that chastening is an important part of parenting. A great parent is a parent that will love a child enough to chasten them, not just let them get away with anything.
As well as being protectors and providers, fathers should be a figure of loving discipline. Come on, very few of us never heard this statement when we were young: "Wait till your father gets home!" That was the ultimate sentence spoken by mothers who had been taken to the edge, right?
Great fathers chastise, they don't abuse – these are two very different things. Chastisement, defined correctly, means to discipline or to child raise, not to abuse. This part of understanding great fathering can be the hardest one to talk about if the hand behind the chastisement you have known was not driven by love but by something else. When God, as our Father, disciplines or chastens there is nothing but love for us behind it, a love that will deal with something potentially harmful in us while it is still the size of a seed.
A great father will have the courage to deal with the seedlike form of bad or harmful behaviour instead of visiting it when it is in prison or hospital, when it has fully grown. Correct chastening is actually a demonstration of love – it may not be fun but what is behind it could save your life or mean the difference between a great one and a difficult one. Hebrews teaches us that if we understand that a part of God's fathering in our lives is to discipline, or "child raise", us when needed we are indeed sons (or daughters), but if we refuse to allow Him to correct us we are actually Illegitimate (the King James version actually uses the word Bastards). I don't know about you, Champion, but I don't want to be illegitimate in any area of my life. I'd rather be a son who knows that all that God does to me is for my good. I trust the hand that chastens me, knowing that it is only ever fuelled by love – you can trust Him too.
Proverbs 3:12
For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
God bless,
Andy
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