My God and My Country

My Daily Meditation

Today’s Reading

The Epistle to the Hebrews

Chapter 12:3-11

Greetings in the name of our risen Savior Christ Jesus

Discipline as wrought to us by God

3 Consider therefore him that endureth such speaking against of sinners, lest ye should be wearied and faint in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 And ye have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of him. (a)
6 For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth: and he scourgeth every son that he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God offered himself unto you as unto sons: for what son is it whom the father chasteneth not?
8 If therefore ye be without correction, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Moreover we have had the fathers of our bodies which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: should we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, that we might live? (b)
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he chastened us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastising for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: but afterward, it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness, unto them which are thereby exercised.

(a) Editor’s thought - the connection between vss 5 and 10 are thus that all chastisement by God is to be understood as correction for our spiritual needs and therefore, while being unpleasant, can be seen later onward as being profitable for our spiritual growth. 

(b) Editor’s thought - A related scripture can be found in Matthew 7:8, wherein Jesus speaks upon fathers giving to their children good things. A loving father will bestow upon us both good gifts, and will also correct us when we go astray. This is how we, (and I speak to the men now), as fathers are to operate. Remember, God wants us to be like Him, loving, yet stern when the times are required. Not abusing the authority given unto us by Him, but to be merciful, and consistent in all that we do as dads.