I am a firm believer in God as Heavenly Father - I believe He is just as much "Daddy" to us as He is Savior and King and Creator. And, just as parents discipline their children, I know Heavenly Father disciplines us, too. "So then know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you". - Deuteronomy 8:5
I don't mean that He punishes us. Though some Christians will disagree with my position on this, I don't believe that diseases, natural disasters, personal tragedies, etc are inflicted on human beings as some kind of holy punishment for sins. When Jesus said "it is finished" on the cross, I take him at his word. I don't believe God punishes his children but I also don't believe He has any trouble letting us know when He's not pleased and pointing out areas in our lives where we could use some serious improvement.
For me, this Godly discipline tends to happen in the form of a rebuke - when someone who knows me well speaks truth into my life and tells it to me "like it is". Someone I love and respect will point out an area in my life or an aspect of my character that just isn't Christ-like and, deep down, I know God is speaking through them. This happened just the other day. In an email to me, a friend pointed out that something I claimed to be doing "the Christian way" was really no different than the secular way. She didn't use those exact words and she was really gentle, but that was essentially the bottom line. She saw me acting in a way that wasn't right, and she called me out on it.
My first reaction was to try and justify the situation to myself. You know, the kind of self-lecture that begins with the infamous "yeah, BUT ...." As I went through my mental check-list of excuses, though, I knew she was right. Just because you stick the Christian label on something, doesn't make it so. My motives and my actions in this particular circumstance had been motivated by impatience, selfishness, distrust and lust - not exactly the type of behavior a woman of faith should strive for.
Even though it wasn't fun to read her comments the choices I'd been making recently, I know she spoke from a place of love and concern and I know the message she gave me was prompted by the Holy Spirit. I'm so blessed to have people around me who can be honest with me and who challenge me to better. And I'm blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves me too much to let things slide without discipline. And I'm blessed he wraps that discipline up in friendship.
"Let a righteous man strike me - it is a kindness. Let him rebuke me - it is oil on my head." - Psalm 141:5
