–noun
1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill
2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training
3. punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
4. the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.
5. behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control
Something that I still do lack in various areas of my life. Something that I need God to continuously help me to grow in. Something that I wish I had without facing the cost of having it.
Hebrews 12:4-11 [Message Version]
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?
My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline,
but don't be crushed by it either.
It's the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
Sometimes in the face of overwhelming challenges, all can be said and done, but I will still feel the same - bogged down, depressed and discouraged. And probably the next most viable thing for us to do is to 1. Escape or 2. Rant to God/someone. In fact for some of us, there's only one option because the 2nd is a form of escapism.
Think along the way of all these rigid and harsh trainings, somehow I had "forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children". Especially with staying in a hall and not having much interaction with my parents within a week, I think I really did forget how good parents treat their children...
God. Renew and remind me of this love.
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