Dear Old Dad: the Mean Old Man?

Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Discipline.  That is a dirty word to many of us. It conjures up all sorts of painful memories and subliminal shame.  Our fathers were not perfect at it. We fathers of today are not the best.  But true discipline has a loving motive.  Consider Christ, who endured so much for us. Did He resent His Father for it? After all, God sent Him here to earth for that very purpose. God disciplines us for our good and for His ultimate purposes. Do we constantly get angry at Him for our lot in life? Do we consistently resent the way He "treats" us?  True discipline promises, hopes, invests.  Let us not grow weary in running the race today. And let us not look on God's training program of trials as His being "the mean old man." And maybe, let's look a little differently at our own fathers and what they have sought to put into our lives.