Prov 3:11-12 - My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
I promised I would NEVER grow up to be like my parents! But then the day comes when you realize how much you're just like them...
Our daughter said the same thing to us. Then one day we were sitting around the kitchen table at her house and I was helping her son with some math homework. He wanted me to just give him the answer, and I proceeded to help him learn HOW to find the answer. He turned to my daughter and said: "I see where you get it from." Oh the joy of seeing that your kids parent much the same way that you do!!!
Then a few weeks ago, I was talking to my granddaughter CJ, and she told me I sounded just like "big papa" (my dad). UGH - I did! I see it more and more in my own behaviors, as I continue to model many of my parents' qualities. And now Heather is more and more like her mother in how she parents. Apparently we are both becoming more and more like our parents!
That's the thing about discipline. Discipline feels unpleasant at the time, but it's the tool that must be used to mold the character of those we love to become more like us. God doesn't discipline us just to punish us, or to keep us in our place. His discipline is out of the desire to mold us into His likeness. It's in the discipline that we become like Him --- just like the way we become more like our parents through the discipline they instilled in us.
Discipline is often associated with punishment, but it really is more about activity. Much of our parental teaching these days is about "removing" activity from our kids in order to discipline them (grounding, take away the keys, etc.). The reality is that God uses both removal and addition in discipline... adding more work to our loads, adding more repetition of the same lessons. As a friend once told me about his father, "discipline meant more rocks to be picked up out of the field". It's in the activity that we learn, not in the inactivity.
Discipline is also for the purpose of learning. I find it interesting that our form of discipline is to separate criminals, students, etc. from the learning. Criminals are put in a separated jail and never have to face the pain they caused, nor do anything to make amends to those who were hurt. Students are suspended from school, where they sit home with too much time on their hands and learn nothing during their suspension. God's discipline is often active - giving us new challenges to deal with to learn the lessons.
God's love for us and desire for our growth motivates Him to be perfect at discipline. Our job is to embrace that discipline so we can learn much quicker and gain the Image He is trying to create. The end result is to become more like Him! The children become like the father.
So don't regret being a little like your parents --- they weren't perfect, but certainly did something right. Accept the discipline that helped you become a little more like Jesus.
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