Disciplined children

In public places, I sometimes see a child behaving badly but receiving no correction. I suppose these days, young parents fear repercussions or are of the mindset that discipline is not politically correct. Many of them are more worried about “what will people think?” than they are about what lack of discipline does to their children. In my opinion, correcting bad behavior is a sign of love.

I’ve often told the story of the most popular girl in high school telling me that she envied me and my sister because “your parents love you enough to discipline you.” If she figured that out, could it be that the wild antics of some children are attempts to gain a show of love? For some, a spanking is better than being ignored.

That said, I’m not a great fan of being disciplined, at least when people do it. Their motivations vary, but most are prompted to correct me out of their own desire to feel superior, or a desire to get me out of their space. On the other hand, God is not like that.

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. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 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? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (Hebrews 12:5–8)

The Lord disciplines me because He loves me too much to leave me the way that I am. Selfishness and sinful behavior does not make me a better person. He cares that I grow in character and goodness, that I become more like Jesus. His discipline is actually a sign or mark that I belong to Him. 

God disciplines several ways. The one I prefer is a rebuke from His Word. This is much easier than a slap on the side of the head. However, He rarely gives me a boot (figuratively) without hugging me at the same time. 

He can also discipline through the consequences of bad behavior. If I will not learn one way, He will persist using some other way to teach me the folly of whatever I might be doing. He follows up with correction so that I will learn how to behave in better ways.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the (child) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

I’ve thought many times that if God didn’t care about what I do, I would not worship Him. Like my classmate in high school, I know that discipline is an indication that I am loved and a pathway to becoming complete.

A “second childhood” is a good thing

The small daughter of a young family in our church often goes into the aisle while we are singing. Oblivious to everyone around her, she gracefully dances to the music in what I see as an offering of praise. 

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:3–4)

I cannot say if this little one senses the pleasure of God, but it appears so. Besides, the rest of us sense His presence as we worship so she may feel it and not know how to describe it. Instead, it makes her want to dance.

How does God feel when He watches her? Because her sweet worship is precious in my eyes, I imagine that His heart overflows with joy. 

Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14)

Today’s devotional reading focuses on the comprehensive love of Jesus for all of His children. It says that there is no part of our interests which He does not consider, nothing concerning our welfare that is not important to Him. He rejoices when we are joyful; He weeps when we are sad. He wants us to come to Him like children.

Not everyone thinks that God cares about every detail in the lives of His children. One of our Christian friends laughs at the idea of praying for a parking spot, but the Bible says “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23) and “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Why then would anyone suppose that God does not care about the mundane details of our lives?

For many years God has been teaching me to rely on Him for all things, to pray about everything, even the details. This is partly because I, like a child, often don’t know what I am doing, but also because He loves me. He cares about me like a father for a child and, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). He wants me to experience His blessing in everything, even the small things.

This child at church, like any child, has her moments of wilful and stubborn disobedience. She says NO to her parents, fights with her siblings and resists help when she needs it. Am I not much like her?

Why do I resist my Father? Or just forget to ask Him for help? Isn’t it because my heart is fiercely independent and selfish? I am proud and determined to do it myself, forgetting that this is not a grown-up way, but the way of an immature child.

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Father, Your love never stops, even when I act in unthankful and undeserving ways. When I resist You, You scoop me in Your arms and whisper words like, “Just ask me” and “I’m here for you.” How amazing that You should care for me even when I resist You or fight with You.

Thank You for the example of worship in small children. And thank You also for reminding me that Your love covers every part of my life, that You even take pleasure in me! Help me grow up and stop acting like a little brat. Instead, help me worship and serve You with the trust and abandonment of an obedient child.

To Live is Christ — taking baby steps

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting my four great-grandchildren. I know that I’m too young to be a great-grandmother. Nevertheless, two of my grandchildren have little ones of their own. It was nice to see them.

It was also interesting to observe their personalities. One is less than two weeks old, but obviously male and alert to his surroundings. The oldest is three with a large vocabulary, and hugs everyone. The two in the middle are both blonde and blue eyed, but not at all alike. One is contented and methodical, a real thinker. The other is a sharp-eyed and smiling imp. I enjoyed watching them interact with mom and dad, sometimes testing their limits and always learning obedience.

Today’s devotional verse is about obedience at a different level. It is for children, but the children of God — who can be adults. These children are those transformed by His Spirit and called to be like Jesus. 

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. (1 Peter 1:14–15)

Because of our sin nature, no one has to teach any of us how to be bad. Children already know how to disobey and misbehave. Instead they must be taught obedience. This is a challenge for parents and important for the child’s safety and growth.

For the child of God, learning obedience is vital to keep us safe too. It is also part of our spiritual growth, since our destiny is to be like our Savior. He was obedient and so must we be obedient. However, for us the leaving aside sin and doing as God says is one thing; being called to holiness lifts the bar.

I’ve never found a good definition of holy. Some say it simply means “other than” in that God is higher and more than we can imagine or describe. He is unlimited love and goodness, totally and completely without sin, light that has no darkness. My dictionary says that holy is moral and spiritual excellence. That means that He is calling me to a very high standard.

When I think of holiness as excellence in all things moral and spiritual, I know that I fall short. Without the Spirit of God living in me, and without the imputed character and holiness of Jesus Christ, there is no hope.

When I think of unlimited love and goodness, and those other high degrees of measuring God, I also feel small and inadequate. Who can be like God? Only with God living in me, only with Christ giving me His nature, only with God seeing me through that filter, then there is a sense of it, but this holiness is not mine. Holiness truly belongs to God alone.

When I think of holiness as “other than” or being better than what I was before He saved me, then I can see myself (only because of Christ) as on the bottom rung of a very tall ladder. If I compare myself with those evil desires that I had before Christ came into my life, I know that He has changed me. When I look back, there has been change and progress, a glimmer of hope. However, when I look at the goal, the target described in this verse, I cannot imagine it. How can God ask such a thing?

Yet He asks it, which implies that perhaps holiness is possible. I know that I will not be like Jesus until I see Him face to face, but this verse says that I can do better, that I can climb up a rung or two. Refusing sin and insisting on God’s high standards for my life are hard enough to muster, but the Holy Spirit is at work, urging more.

Besides His outreached hand, I’m amazed that God assumes this is possible. I’m to stop looking at myself. I’m not to give up simply because His target seems completely out of reach. He wants me to press on — like a little one learning to walk. Like a dad with a little one, He holds out His hand and urges me to take the next step forward.

Like a willow

Today has me thinking again about willows. Even though the one in our backyard is gone, I miss it and secretly hope the landscapers missed a root or two and it will come back. It was a lush and flourishing tree, even though it was taking over the yard — and perhaps the water pipes under the yard.

Willows love water. In fact, willows cannot exist without water. That is where they grow. If one was planted on a mountain or in the desert, it would soon perish. As today’s devotional reading says, if you take even a twig off a willow and plant it near a stream, it very likely will grow. (That is what I’m hoping happens to my willow.)

The devotional refers once more to Isaiah 44:4: “They will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses” and points out that this is the same with God’s children. Like a willow, I also must stay near the river of God’s blessing and dip my roots into that “river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4).

I cannot live in this world apart from the outpouring rivers of grace God gives through Jesus, the Holy Spirit, His Word, even His people, no more than a willow can thrive and grow in a desert. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says it well:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

The willow is an enduring plant. It tends to survive even when severely pruned. It is as Job says: “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. (Job 14:7-9)

This is true also of the life of Christ in me. This life is so strong that no matter how far I stray, or how low I am beaten down by adversity, at the mere “scent of water” I am revived and brought out of all backsliding and all attacks against me. How fitting that God’s Word should compare the life of His people to a willow. Blessed indeed is the person who trusts in the Lord.

A flower in the grass

The company my husband works for hosts two events this time of the year, a Christmas party and an awards dinner. During the party, five and ten year employees are given service awards. At the dinner, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five and thirty year employees are honored. This company began a bit more than thirty years ago and has grown from a few people to nearly two thousand.

As I looked around the room, I recognized several who are Christians, partly because I knew them, but many because of their countenance. Christians often have a glow on their faces. A friend says that before she became a Christian, she noticed this glow and wondered about it. We could see it in our travels to China a few years ago, and I saw it again last night. I also wondered if the success of this company was due to God’s blessing on so many of His children who work there.

Today’s devotional reading is from a simple verse in Isaiah. It says, “They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses” (Isaiah 44:4).

The author of the devotional points out that the preceding verse says that God’s people spring up because of water poured like floods on dry ground. In regions where rain is scarce, the effect of showers upon parched vegetation is miraculous and growth springs up where nothing seemed to have existed.

This growth is also compared to willows and we know the way willows grow when they are well watered. Eight years ago we planted two of them and two dogwoods in our backyard. In five years, one of the willows became so large that we had to cut it down. Last summer, the other one also had to be removed as it had engulfed the other plants.

In this verse, God’s people are said to spring up among the grass. The devotional author says that the grass could be emblematic of the flesh, just as the Bible elsewhere says, “All flesh is grass.” This reference speaks of the reality that all pride, boasting and even the beauty of the flesh and “all the glory of man is as the flower of grass” which is cut down by a scythe, withers and is gathered into heaps and swept out of the field.

Thinking of grass then as fleshy humanity, Isaiah 44:4 pictures the children of God springing up among the people like flowers among the grass, beautiful objects among the green blades. In another place, Christians are described as lights shining in a dark place (Philippians 2:15). In other words, our appearance is distinct in some way.

This awes me. I’m blessed to see God’s people springing up here and there among the “grass” which everywhere so thickly covers the world. I’m also awed to be one of them. As the devotional writer says, at times I was hidden beneath that grass — perhaps a flower only in God’s sight. My roots were in the dust and I lay undistinguished in the masses of people around me. Yet being a flower, even one of the Redeemer’s own “lilies among whom He feeds,” He dropped the rain of heaven upon me and I sprang up and now flourish like a willow tree.

I also have His assurance that no matter how much I grow, He will give me the space I need. He will prune off whatever needs to be removed, but He will never cut me down.