No pain no gain

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12v11

God’s chastening is a fascinating study. Most of the time I have heard this passage preached on it was preached as a scare tactic kind of message. ‘Look here, if you mess up God is going to get you!’

As I read through this today I got a different impression. The section starts with ‘For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls,’ and ends with ‘Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’

This hardly sounds like a scary section of scripture. It is all about encouragement and blessing. It is all about training and instruction; it is all about God’s love that leads him to correct us as a part of our training.

So what do we do with it? If we are smart we learn from God’s chastening. Chastening does not always equal punishment. Chastening takes many forms, but at the end of the day it is always instructional in purpose. It is always the action of a loving, perfect God.

I have fallen far short in the training of my kids. Sometimes I have chastened out of anger and done more harm that good. Sometimes it has been nothing more than punishment. But God doesn’t do that – his chastening is always for our profit, that we may partake of His holiness.

Chastening never seems easy. Training is tough. No pain no gain. But, if we will take God’s chastening and accept the changes He wants us to make the result is worth it. Holiness, the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and the knowledge that we are learning the lessons to make us more like Him will make the chastening bearable.