Are You a Legitimate Or Illegitimate Child of God?
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
We All Need Boundaries
Children need boundaries. We all do. Without clear boundaries of what's okay or not okay, we run amok and trample on the feelings and rights of others.
Clear boundaries and consistency are essential elements for raising healthy and confident children who will mature into healthy and confident adults.
We've seen this with our own children and hundreds of others my wife and I cared for over the years. Now we see this with our grandchildren and children of our extended family in the Philippines.
Sadly, a lack of healthy, consistent discipline has rippled through our nation, beginning with the "me generation" of the seventies, to a couple of million people incarcerated and well over four million others on probation or parole, producing heartache and despair.
The absence of boundaries and the abandonment of discipline lead to conflict and disruption in families and society at large. We all need discipline and boundaries. Without them, we will self-destruct personally, and so will our nation if things don't change.
Scripture Text
You struggle against sin, but your struggles haven’t killed you. You have forgotten the encouraging words that God speaks to you as his children:
“My child, pay attention when the Lord disciplines you. Don’t give up when he corrects you. The Lord disciplines everyone he loves. He severely disciplines everyone he accepts as his child.” [vss 4-6] [reference– Proverbs 3:11-12]
Endure your discipline. God corrects you as a father corrects his children. All children are disciplined by their fathers.
If you aren’t disciplined like the other children, you aren’t part of the family. On earth we have fathers who disciplined us, and we respect them. Shouldn’t we place ourselves under the authority of God, the father of spirits, so that we will live? [vss 7-9]
(Hebrews 12:4-9 GW) [Context– Hebrews 12]
Key Phrase
If you aren’t disciplined like the other children, you aren’t part of the family.
Digging Deeper Into the Text
What is said about our struggle with sin? How does this relate to you personally?
What are the encouraging words spoken about here? How is this strong exhortation encouraging?
How is the idea of God's discipline explained? Does this make sense to you?
How is the discipline God gives His children different from what our natural parents do?
Things to Consider
No one likes correction, not immediately. Neither do we like to undergo discipline or accept punishment, even when it's deserved. We can be quick to claim, "It's unfair!" But much of the time, we need to be disciplined for our own good.
This is one of the more difficult things for believers and nonbelievers to understand. "Why would a loving God discipline, correct, or punish anyone?"
The short answer is—so we don’t become spoiled brats! Also, God wants to develop a nature in us like His. He wants us to fit in with His family. He wants us to be His legitimate children, not to be illegitimate, self-willed rebels.
An important element of God's redemptive work is restoring us so we may enjoy a face-to-face relationship with God. But this requires an internal work within us. A transforming work in our hearts and lives.
We may not like or look forward to trials and the testing of our faith, but we need them to become genuine, mature children of God. God uses external situations in our lives to shape and transform our inner nature.
Answer These Questions to Apply God’s Word in Your Life
How did this exhortation speak to the believers who heard this first, and how does it fit for us?
What kind of discipline did you receive as a child, and how has it shaped your life?
Do you think your own upbringing might get in the way of understanding God's discipline?
How can you better understand and accept God's discipline in your life?
Here’s a link to a free study guide for the book of Hebrews— Study Guide and Study Questions for Hebrews
