June 4th, 2026
This week, I’ve been thinking about the discipline of the Lord. It’s not a warm and fuzzy topic, but it’s something all of us need to understand and walk in. My husband and I are children’s pastors, and we’ve been talking to the kids about God’s nature as a Father. Last Sunday, we talked about God’s discipline, because we couldn’t share about God’s love as a Father and neglect to talk about His correction.
To begin, I asked the kids what comes to mind when they think of discipline. Most of them answered with things like:
“Punishment.”
“Consequence.”
“No electronics.”
“You did something bad.”
Almost every response was negative.
Adults and children alike in our culture tend to have a negative association with the idea of discipline. This matters because of our response when we read verses like these:
“Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son He delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)
“For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6)
We can’t skip over verses like these in the Bible, even if they make us uncomfortable. No one likes the moment of correction. It’s sometimes uncomfortable, embarrassing, or painful, but God corrects us to heal us. We can learn to love the result of God’s correction and not think of it as a negative thing.
Hebrews 12:11 says,
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Proverbs 15:32 says,
“He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.”
Discipline in our lives will yield fruit that we would never have had any other way. We must learn to love the correction, discipline, and instruction of the Lord.
Luke 19 tells the story of a tax collector named Zacchaeus. It says,
“Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy. He was trying to see who Jesus was but could not see over the crowd because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him, since Jesus was about to pass that way.
When Jesus came to that place, He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So, Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him joyfully. And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”’
This is a short story in the Bible, but this one encounter with Jesus changed Zacchaeus’ life. You may not see the discipline of God in this story, but it’s here. We don’t see Jesus get angry or even point out Zacchaeus’ sin. However, he must have felt the conviction of heaven when He was in the presence of Jesus. The easiest way to allow God’s discipline to shape our hearts is to spend time in His presence. If we are constantly trying to find things wrong with ourselves and fix them, that’s condemnation, not discipline. Conviction and correction come from the Holy Spirit, in love. Jesus called to Zacchaeus, one whom no one would have expected him to acknowledge. He went to his home, which offended the crowds because they knew Zacchaeus’ sin. It was in response to that love that Zacchaeus repented. He declared he would give half of his possessions to the poor and repay fourfold what he had stolen. What’s interesting is that this act mirrors an Old Testament law regarding stolen sheep. If someone was convicted of stealing a sheep, they had to restore it “fourfold.”
Zacchaeus was a Jew and he would have known the law, but it wasn’t until he was confronted with Jesus, the Word Himself, that conviction led to repentance. It is only then that Jesus declared “salvation has come to this house.”
There were countless Pharisees and religious Jews who kept the law better than Zacchaeus but missed the opportunity for genuine salvation. However, Zacchaeus’ household received salvation because of an encounter that changed his heart! Repentance and obedience were the result.
In this story, Jesus’ grace didn’t remove every consequence of sin. Zacchaeus received salvation and was forgiven, but there was still restitution to be made to those he had defrauded. We can’t live as though God’s grace exempts us from making things right if we’ve done wrong. I’m sure restitution wasn’t easy or comfortable for Zacchaeus, but it led to life and peace.
Keeping God’s commandments won’t always be easy and it will always offend our flesh, but obedience leads to life and surrendering to God’s correction allows us to receive from Him, as children! We cannot separate God’s love as a Father from His discipline because they are one.
John 16:8 says,
“And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
Romans 5:5 says,
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The same One who convicts of sin pours God’s love into our hearts.
In Matthew 24:12 Jesus said concerning the last days,
“Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
There is a connection between obedience and love. Lawlessness—disregarding the instructions of the Word of God—will cause love to grow cold. We cannot disregard God’s Word and reject His discipline and then think we can accept His love. His law is His love!
1 John 5:3 says,
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
This week, we encourage you to invite the Father to bring discipline to any area you’ve needed it. It may not be what you want to do, and God may not say what you want to hear, but there is always life on the other side. He corrects us because He loves us and desires better things for us than we could ever desire for ourselves!
To begin, I asked the kids what comes to mind when they think of discipline. Most of them answered with things like:
“Punishment.”
“Consequence.”
“No electronics.”
“You did something bad.”
Almost every response was negative.
Adults and children alike in our culture tend to have a negative association with the idea of discipline. This matters because of our response when we read verses like these:
“Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son He delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)
“For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6)
We can’t skip over verses like these in the Bible, even if they make us uncomfortable. No one likes the moment of correction. It’s sometimes uncomfortable, embarrassing, or painful, but God corrects us to heal us. We can learn to love the result of God’s correction and not think of it as a negative thing.
Hebrews 12:11 says,
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Proverbs 15:32 says,
“He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.”
Discipline in our lives will yield fruit that we would never have had any other way. We must learn to love the correction, discipline, and instruction of the Lord.
Luke 19 tells the story of a tax collector named Zacchaeus. It says,
“Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy. He was trying to see who Jesus was but could not see over the crowd because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him, since Jesus was about to pass that way.
When Jesus came to that place, He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So, Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him joyfully. And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”’
This is a short story in the Bible, but this one encounter with Jesus changed Zacchaeus’ life. You may not see the discipline of God in this story, but it’s here. We don’t see Jesus get angry or even point out Zacchaeus’ sin. However, he must have felt the conviction of heaven when He was in the presence of Jesus. The easiest way to allow God’s discipline to shape our hearts is to spend time in His presence. If we are constantly trying to find things wrong with ourselves and fix them, that’s condemnation, not discipline. Conviction and correction come from the Holy Spirit, in love. Jesus called to Zacchaeus, one whom no one would have expected him to acknowledge. He went to his home, which offended the crowds because they knew Zacchaeus’ sin. It was in response to that love that Zacchaeus repented. He declared he would give half of his possessions to the poor and repay fourfold what he had stolen. What’s interesting is that this act mirrors an Old Testament law regarding stolen sheep. If someone was convicted of stealing a sheep, they had to restore it “fourfold.”
Zacchaeus was a Jew and he would have known the law, but it wasn’t until he was confronted with Jesus, the Word Himself, that conviction led to repentance. It is only then that Jesus declared “salvation has come to this house.”
There were countless Pharisees and religious Jews who kept the law better than Zacchaeus but missed the opportunity for genuine salvation. However, Zacchaeus’ household received salvation because of an encounter that changed his heart! Repentance and obedience were the result.
In this story, Jesus’ grace didn’t remove every consequence of sin. Zacchaeus received salvation and was forgiven, but there was still restitution to be made to those he had defrauded. We can’t live as though God’s grace exempts us from making things right if we’ve done wrong. I’m sure restitution wasn’t easy or comfortable for Zacchaeus, but it led to life and peace.
Keeping God’s commandments won’t always be easy and it will always offend our flesh, but obedience leads to life and surrendering to God’s correction allows us to receive from Him, as children! We cannot separate God’s love as a Father from His discipline because they are one.
John 16:8 says,
“And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
Romans 5:5 says,
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The same One who convicts of sin pours God’s love into our hearts.
In Matthew 24:12 Jesus said concerning the last days,
“Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
There is a connection between obedience and love. Lawlessness—disregarding the instructions of the Word of God—will cause love to grow cold. We cannot disregard God’s Word and reject His discipline and then think we can accept His love. His law is His love!
1 John 5:3 says,
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
This week, we encourage you to invite the Father to bring discipline to any area you’ve needed it. It may not be what you want to do, and God may not say what you want to hear, but there is always life on the other side. He corrects us because He loves us and desires better things for us than we could ever desire for ourselves!
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