THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever had to be disciplined for something?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 3:11-12. 11My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
Nobody likes being disciplined. Nobody like being in trouble or being punished. In fact, usually we despise being disciplined. That means we hate it. But Solomon is teaching his children (and us) something extremely important – God disciplines us because he loves us, and your mom and dad discipline you because they love you. Because your parents love you and want you to be wise and not foolish, they will confront your bad behavior and your bad attitudes with words (reproof) and with consequences (discipline). God is no different. He confronts us with his words of reproof through the Bible and with consequences through the things he allows us to go through in life. When things get hard in our lives it is because God is trying to stop our foolishness and bring our hearts and minds back to trusting him. Again, why does God do this? Why does he let us go through hard and difficult things in life? Because we are his sons in whom he delights.
The New Testament tells the story of Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River. The heavens opened up and God spoke out loud saying, “This is the son that I love, who pleases me.” And then the very next story is about Jesus going into the desert for 40 days without any food and being tempted by Satan (do you know that story?). God loved his son Jesus but still let him go through that very hard trial so he could prove that he trusted God. Years later on a mountain God spoke again and said that he loved his son Jesus, then Jesus faced the hardest discipline from God ever – the cross. Jesus took our discipline for sin when he died on the cross. When we trust in him we too are sons and daughters of God, the children he loves. And if he loves us he will discipline us and train our hearts to trust him in all things.
Because of Jesus we are sons and daughters of God.
With Jesus we will go through God’s discipline because he loves us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about the rules and consequences you have in your home. How do they show love? How might we show that we don’t despise discipline, but trust God in it?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, I know your discipline is always loving. I trust you in all things. Amen.
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