Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Hebrews 12:5-11
“My son, do not despise the discipline of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and corrects every son whom He receives.”
Bottom line, God loves you, so He is going to correct and discipline you! There is a great lack of understanding among believers when it comes to ‘how and why’ the Lord disciplines in the New Covenant. Some teach that the Lord puts lack, hardship, calamity and even sickness on His children to punish them for wrongdoing… friends, that would be child abuse! Jesus did not die on the cross to set us free from sickness, poverty and calamity only to put it on us again when we fail! He does not break our bones in car wrecks and cause our homes to be repossessed to punish us.
How does the Lord discipline His children? I’m so glad that you asked… 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (AMP) says, “All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The New International Version says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.
In the New Covenant, the Lord uses His Word to correct and to discipline us… He does not put bad things on us to teach us a lesson, He teaches us, trains us, corrects us and disciplines us through His Word by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He disciplines us through His Word that we may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work… so, as you meditate upon the Word, as you sit under the anointed teaching and preaching of the Word, receive correction from the Word… yield to it, and allow the power in the Word to change you from the inside out, in Jesus Name!
In His Amazing Love, Nick
