THE GOAL OF DISCIPLINE IS REPENTANCE OF PRODIGAL SONS AND THEIR RETURN TO HOME

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ! You are welcome to the pages of our “Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! We are still talking about why God allows pain and suffering in our lives; His goal is to draw our attention and draw us near to Himself to correct and to discipline us. I want to make sure we understand the difference between discipline and punishment. We are going to talk about that right now. These two words are often used as synonyms, yet they are not the same. Punishment is a sentence pronounced by court after it has established someone’s guilt. Punishment is a reprimand or a fine. Discipline, on other hand, includes some measure of judgment or punishment, but it goes a step further: discipline is meant to correct, instruct or cause changes in the life of a person that has been wrong . Besides, discipline requires some type of compensation or remedy that would prove that the guilty one has admitted his quilt and is deeply sorry. An offender might say: “I am sorry for what I did. Please, forgive me!” It is discipline that helps such a person to see that he is guilty and has offended other people and has caused damage to them. 
 THE GOAL OF DISCIPLINE IS REPENTANCE OF PRODIGAL SONS AND THEIR RETURN TO HOME: «As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent» (Revelation, 3:19).
 Repentance is the right reaction to discipline! Sin never is just one’s personal business, so to speak. Sin is not something you do to yourself; sin is something that inevitably affects others. Based on the Word of God, allow me to say very clearly that parents should discipline their children and use spanking or ‘a rod’ as one of the method. It says in the Bible: 
 “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly» (Proverbs, 13:24).
 We also read that: 
 «Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him»(Proverbs, 22:15).
 Considering all this, we can make the following conclusion: if love is the foundation or prerequisite of discipline, then if we punish our children by rod or spanking without love, we offend our children and abuse our parental authority. The purpose of a rod is not to hurt a child for his bad behaviour. A rod is meant to teach the children to distinguish right from wrong. Do not spank your children in anger or when you’re ‘out of love’. When we understand that the basis and the necessary prerequisite of discipline is love we can see the goal of discipline: it is to protect them from the difficulties and problems that come into a person’s life as a consequence of sin and rebellion. Through discipline we as parents teach our children the truth that sinful pleasures are fleeting but have serious consequences. Through discipline we help them see that it is better to choose the life of obedience and righteousness, than to get all the riches of the world but be far away from God and His standards. God disciplines every one of us for the very same reasons. We will continue on this tomorrow! I wish you God’s abundant blessings! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Similar Posts

  • Poverty and failure have roots and laziness is an obvious one

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    One of the reasons for spiritual coldness and lukewarmness is negligence and laziness. Marital failure, financial poverty, failure in ministry and many other forms of poverty can all be traced back to the same root of negligence or dealing with a slack hand.“He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Proverbs 10:4)

  • Value God’s Word!

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Today God wants to tell us the same thing. The Word of God is life to us. When God sends us His Word, He offers us life. Rejecting the Word of God we reject life itself. Moses says about God’s Word: «For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life…»It is extremely important for us to appreciate the Word of God and not to treat it as something futile, – it is not like a song that we have listened to and then gone to do our own will. It should be to us like the greatest treasure. We have to value God’s Word, to hide it in our hearts, to appreciate it because it is life to us. God says that through the Word and through our right attitude towards it we can extend or prolong our days. Our attitude toward the Word determines whether we will extend our life or shorten it.

  • Preparation is a key to effective life! II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    Your tomorrow is the outcome of your today´s efforts and time you spend. Your today impacts your tomorrow, therefore, you better prepare yourself for tomorrow, use your time to develop yourself, building up your character and skills. If you disobey God today, you will not be able to enter your promised land tomorrow, due to the cruelty of your heart. If you take care for today, God will take care for your tomorrow then.

  • Faith is obedience to the Lord! II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    «Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.» (Hebrew 11:6). As we mentioned earlier, faith means acting in accordance to the word of God. Quite often God calls us to do impossible things, those only God Himself can accomplish. God is not inviting us to demonstrate our own capabilities, but what He is able to do through us. That´s why God often gives us the tasks we cannot accomplish without Him.

  • Wrong motivation

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    Spirit of competition .Some people are moved by the desire to prove to others what they can do. Those that are moved by this spirit can’t be still if they see someone else doing better than them. These people continually try to prove something to others, because they compare themselves to others all the time. They live according to someone else’s schedule since they do not have their own. The word of God said this is a wrong attitude:

  • Jesus transforms those that follow Him III

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    We must keep God’s call to change right before our eyes as one of the most important goals. As soon as we come to God and enter His Kingdom, the desire to change and grow into the likeness of Jesus should be our single desire and our daily bread. And when we start changing, the things around us will change along with the inward changes we experience. Then the most awful situation will change for better and terrible problems will be solved. All of this will happen along with the transformation of our character in the process of the spiritual growth.