Are You Thankful For God's Discipline?

Several years ago, I was working on an action research project for my Master's in Education. These are large projects that involve identifying a problem, testing an intervention, and then learning to create change. In it, I studied how writing portfolio projects could improve students’ writing. Over the course of a semester, my sixth-grade students wrote close to ten papers for their portfolios.

Each paper was short and sweet, about five paragraphs long. I would mark up everything the students had miswritten, but their grades were based fully on whether they had personally improved on the last paper, not on whether their papers were written correctly.

On the top of each paper, I would write something like, “Work on spelling everything correctly,” “Make sure you’re writing in complete sentences,” or, for more advanced students, “Make sure your plot has a satisfying conclusion for the audience.”

Instead of students being bombarded with grammar, spelling, punctuation, plotline, or character descriptions all at once, we focused on one thing at a time until they were able to do it well or were comfortable enough with it that we could add in another goal.

I was happy when, at the end of the semester, I could compare their last paper to the initial one they had written. Even though they’d only worked on one thing at a time, the amount of red on the page was significantly less than it had been at the beginning of the year.

I find this is often how God works with me. He takes my sentence fragments, missing punctuation, and lacking plotline, and gradually begins a process of redemption, creating a story full of beauty.

God Disciplines Those He Loves

Hebrews 12:5-6 says, "My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives."

God disciplines and corrects us because he loves us. If I had taken my students’ initial papers and simply said, “Great, keep up the good work!” I don’t think anyone would argue that I needed to improve as a teacher. I had to correct my students’ mistakes in order to love them well and teach them appropriately.

On the flip side, if I had left all the red pen marks other hand, if I had left all the red pen marks on the paper, said not on the paper, not said a kind word, and given my students a failing grade without ever teaching them the right way, I would also be considered a horrible teacher.

God Knows Us Deeply

One of the best professors I had in college taught me a lot about discipline and correction. I remember once being upset because I had received an 89% (horror of horrors) on a project I thought met the criteria.

I asked the teacher why my grade was “so low.” Her response was that she knew what I was capable of, knew I had crammed to pull the project together, saw that it didn’t have backbone, and wouldn’t give me a 100% until she knew I had worked for it and done my absolute best.

At first, I was frustrated. But over time, I found joy and satisfaction every time I received that 100%, because I knew I had worked for it.

The beautiful thing about God is that He knows us deeply. He knows our 100% work. He knows every strength and every weakness, and he corrects us because he loves us and wants us to feel the joy and satisfaction of a job well done. He wants to take our rough drafts and turn them into refined works.

So, if you sense God's discipline in your life today, be grateful, because this is also evidence of His love.