What we are receiving is discipline; it is not punishment. Punishment is for the retribution of one’s mistakes, while discipline is for the purpose of education. Punishment comes because we have done something wrong; it responds to the past. Discipline is also related to our mistakes, but it is something for the future. Discipline bears an element of the future; it has a purpose. We have been called into the name of the Lord today; we belong to Him. Now we must be prepared to allow God to make us vessels of glory to Him. I can say with much confidence that God wants every one of His children to glorify Him in certain areas. Every child of God should glorify Him. However, each one does it in a different way. Some will glorify Him in one way, some in another way. We glorify God through different circumstances. As a consequence, God is glorified in a full way. Everyone has his own part and his own specialty. God wants to create a certain kind of character in us for the purpose of glorifying Him. No one is exempt from God’s disciplinary hand. Such a hand works to accomplish the things of God. We have never seen a child of God who was exempt from His disciplinary hand.
It is indeed a great loss if God’s children do not understand His discipline. Many people live a foolish life in the eyes of God for many years. They have no way to go on. They do not know what the Lord wants to do in them. They walk according to their own will and wander in a wild, unrestrained, and aimless way through the wilderness. God does not operate this way. He is a God of purpose. He does things for the purpose of molding a specific character in us so that we may glorify His name. All discipline is for the purpose of bringing us on in this way.
The apostle quoted Proverbs when he wrote to the Hebrew believers. In verse 7 the apostle explains the quotation from Proverbs in verses 5 and 6, saying, “It is for discipline that you endure.” This is the first New Testament explanation of the subject; it is a crucial word. Here the apostle shows us that endurance, suffering, and discipline are the same thing. God is disciplining us. The apostle shows us that this disciplining is the same as our endurance. It is for discipline that we endure.
Perhaps some will ask, “What is God’s discipline? Why is He disciplining us?” Verses 2 through 4 speak of enduring the cross, despising the shame, and resisting sin, whereas verses 5 and 6 speak of discipline and scourging. What is the relation between these two things? What are the discipline and scourging in verses 5 and 6, and what are the shame, affliction, and resistance against sin in verses 2 through 4? Verse 7 is a conclusion of verses 2 through 6. It shows us that what we endure is God’s discipline. Thus, suffering, shame, and affliction are God’s discipline. Although our resistance against sin is not unto blood, the pain and tribulation are nevertheless part of God’s discipline.
How does God discipline us? His discipline has to do with whatever He is bringing us through and whatever He is charging us to endure. Do not consider God’s discipline as anything else. God’s discipline is what we endure every day, things such as harsh words, an unkind face, a sharp tongue, an impolite retort, an unreasonable criticism, unexpected troubles, various kinds of shame, irresponsibility, infractions, and other more serious problems arising in the family. Sometimes it may be sickness, poverty, affliction, or difficulty. We encounter many things and endure many things. The apostle said that all these are God’s discipline! It is for discipline that we endure.