Righteous Discipline
Matthew 10:34-38
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Jesus speaks here of bringing a sword to the world system. In His day under Judaism, and even now through a false ideology of Christianity, people made Jesus’ coming all about THEM and deliverance from THEIR suffering. The Jews believed the ancient texts meant that when Messiah would come that He was coming to deliver them from the oppressions of world rulers, and to vindicate them. And today, the false Jesus being preached by the majority removes the idea of hardship and suffering from the lives of all who “call upon His name.”
The false prophets have convinced the masses, then and even now, that these things are the will of God. Did you know it is easy to do this with people who have no desire for the the Truth? People with little to no time spent in the Word. You know, that “SWORD” Jesus came to bring? That thing that is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That powerful force that one must read or hear to be convicted by. And the thing one must obey in order to be changed by it. The Word of God…..
Ever wonder why Jesus says in those passages that His Word will divide a household’s unity and create tension amongst its members? Because the scripture says the “unity of the Spirit” can only be accomplished where everyone is in agreement to let God be true and every man a liar, and His word is spoken of by all in the exact same way and intent. Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter and lays it out: If we uphold anything, or make anything the focus over what His Word decrees, we cannot be His disciple/ child. To be resistant to any facet of God’s Word is to be unable to be an example of Christ’s will to others. We will misrepresent Him and His ways.
To resist is to be lawless. The Spirit of Christ speaks and points to Jesus’ Word. The spirit of Antichrist exalts one’s self above the knowledge of Christ. A rhetorical question: Can one operate in the spirit of Antichrist and be a servant of Christ? I hope a lightbulb just came on!
John 16:13-14
But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For HE WILL NOT SPEAK ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY, but will speak whatever he hears (from Christ), and will tell you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because he will receive from Me what is mine and will tell it to you.
Ever notice those people who are always “giving a word” to others? And 100% of the time that “word” is not scriptural? Yeah, it’s people speaking from their own heart and calling it “God.” It is damning too! The Spirit of God is the Word of God. They are in utter unity, and the Spirit of God will never speak anything but the Word of God. In this alone shows the delusion of charismatics in the worship of their flesh, yet spiritualizing it as being God. In fact, they’re calling God a liar by presenting behaviors and “giving words” that are contradictions of what the scripture says. It is blaspheming, folks.
I have witnessed divorce that was rooted in the sins of the married couple’s parents. Parents who were lawless to God’s commands, by meddling and manipulating in the marriages of their children, seeking control, or to remain their child’s “#1 hero.” This is rebellion and pure EVIL. James tells us that where there is envy and selfish ambition, you will find every kind of evil work.
Genesis 2:23-24
Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ʻwoman,ʼ for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a NEW FAMILY.
I have seen kids grow up with merely a “sperm and egg donor” that unworthily get the title of “parents”, but were never loved as God commands, and those children came to ruin in their own lives, because the parents never parented. The parents were selfish and sought their own lives, leaving their offspring to “survive” on their own with no guidance. Now many of their offspring are strung out, sick, slothful, criminal, in jails, repeating the pattern with their kids, etc.. Their parents will not fair well in judgment, I promise you.
1 Timothy 5:8
But if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
The context is about Christians. What does providing for one’s family and children entail though? Is it just food, clothing, and shelter? Material things? No, it is also teaching and enforcing the law of Christ in all matters of the home and how to live. It is instilling His word in their hearts daily. Enforcing God’s ways in their psyche through DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION. Spanking them and explaining to them their errors. Putting reverence in their hearts for others and for authority.
A just punishment fits the crime, such is life.
Do the human laws of society not do the same? How much more should we love our children and family to enforce God’s will, so that they will be respectful, reverent, and ever-mindful of God? If we don’t show our loyalty to God before them by our reverence for God’s law, they will never do it in their own lives. They will suffer because we refused to suffer our own discomfort for their sakes. That is selfish. That is ungodly.
Did you know, by our obedience (or disobedience), we bless or curse our children? The example we set shapes our children. Many people though, sadly have a limited view of that fact. If I’m living a clean, moral life and showing a work ethic, faithfulness as a husband, paying my bills, keeping my word to men, and being kind to others, that is all right and good. But where people miss it, especially “Christians”, is what God calls love, and how God commands us to demonstrate it. By keeping His commandments. And especially in rearing children for godly living and service.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
I was watching Joe Rogan today interviewing the actor, Matthew McConaughey. Matthew talked about the corporal punishment he received as a child from his father. How his dad instilled virtue, hard work, and honesty in he and his brothers. He recalled being spanked by his dad often, and once for saying “I can’t do this”, referring to completing a task his dad gave him. With his dad, “I can’t” were cuss words, and you got a spanking. His father spanked them often, when needed.
The point I want to make is that Matthew said, “I don’t regret a single one of those spankings, as I earned them all! Although I may not choose to discipline my kids today in that way.” Immediately my question was : “Why not?” What or who has changed? Why does this generation avoid that manner of corporal punishment with kids, and whose standard is it that says not to? The world’s or God’s? The wisdom of this world or the wisdom from above?
I was a senior in high school when the paddle was taken out of school. Two years later, juvenile detention centers started going up across the country. Imagine that! Unruly children flooded these centers, and the populous for that matter. I worked in one for nearly 5 years after my conversion. The root of all these kids being there??? NO DISCIPLINE. No one in their lives willing to deny themselves for the best interest of these children. Many of the kids I had then are dead now, or in prison. Not all. They either had the “sperm donor” type parents I mentioned, or they had parents who loved themselves more than their children, in the sense that they just couldn’t deny themselves and spank their kids, because it just “hurt their heart to have to do it.” It disgusts God.
I remember getting this small 13-year-old boy in the intake department one day. He was very small for his age. He was sent to detention for the terroristic threatening of his mother. We had kids there for murdering a parent, raping their sibling, armed robbery, drug dealing, –you name it. And then we have this small kid, who is there for bullying his mother. After repeated days of losing his five-minute phone call privilege before bedtime, due to belligerent behavior, his mother calls one night frantic to speak to “her little baby.”, I took the call.
Do you think I consoled this poor, weeping mom? No. I dropped the harsh truth on her.
I told her her son lost his phone calls for the same reason she had to call the police on him, that she has failed him as a mother, was spineless, and refused to discipline because it didn’t feel good to her. You think she sobered up from it? No! She wept more and felt sorry for HERSELF. Her excuse? “I’m afraid of him!” This kid was smaller than most other eight year olds. So at 13, the consequences of her breaking the law of God are already evident in this child’s life. And guess what she had the audacity to beg for? She asked me and others to bend the facility rules, so she could speak to her baby! She still didn’t get it, she is the reason he is jail at 13. Most don’t though. Self-focus does that. Their own feelings are their god.
I once had a child in my life that when it misbehaved, the excuse was “he/she is only __ years old. That excuse extended year after year. “They’re only 4, Chris”…and then “only 7”, and “only 13”, “only 17”….. That family professed to be Christian too. Some even worked in the church. They always defended themselves and the child against the Truth. Who were they really worshiping? The child/grandchild. Fact. Idolatry 101: Loving mother, father, son, daughter, wife, grandchild, job, money, ballgames, etc. more than Jesus. Ouch!
What does the word of God say about raising children and how they are to be disciplined? No other question matters, nor opinion holds any weight when held against the written word of God. For a real Christian, a true believer, it is the end-all of everything. Anything else is merely compromising God for others.
All of my life I have heard people claim to quote a supposed scripture saying, “spare the rod, you spoil the child.” Do you realize that that is not even in your Bible? (You will hear people say a lot of things are in the Bible, as if they are. Such as “the lion and the lamb will lay down together.” Scripture actually says the wolf and the lamb.”) Is it any marvel that the professing church is so jacked up? People listen to anybody and anything, and repeat after them, never looking to God‘s word for guidance and proof for themselves, and then they wonder why they’re reaping all these consequences. Scripture says this….
Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod HATES his son, but he who loves him is DILIGENT to discipline him.
Hmmm….. Anyone see God offer an option there? Me either. What is the context of discipline in the passage? A whipping = discipline. Pain makes an impression of the seriousness of an offense. Pain works, folks. A switch or a belt used with enough force to be unpleasant is a very powerful tool. I’ll tell you this, my father certainly loved me! I got lots of spankings. Lots!! Let’s look at another verse….
Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Hmmm… You think if that mom I mentioned had obeyed this that her “little baby“ would have been in detention for threatening his mother at 13?? How do you think her judgment will go before God? Think she will ask Jesus to bend the rules just once for her? She cursed her son by being a coward herself, and loving herself more than God and her son. I follow up on the outcome of many of the kids I had in my care back then. The end is often heartbreaking and tragic.
Remember what Jesus said: “ If you love son or daughter more than me you are not worthy of me?” Think He meant that? Scripture says here that foolishness is present in a child’s heart, and God’s remedy is corporal punishment, with instruction. Any debates?? What does God think of me if I choose to alter His word to justify myself? To Him, I am a horrible parent and my consequences are built-in to my choices. My child will grow up to be a shame to me and its mother, and it will probably suffer immensely in the world for my failure to discipline, as commanded. How about this one….
Proverbs 23:13-14 “DO NOT withhold discipline from a child; IF YOU STRIKE HIM with a rod, HE WILL NOT DIE. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol (Hell).”
Which do you think is the love of God, to spank your kids for criminal and violent behaviors, disrespect and dishonor, lying, or any other act that infringes upon others, or to just talk to them softly, or say “don’t do that?” Maybe promise them a toy? A happy Meal? You know, bribery? If your answer is either spank or instruct, you are wrong! The answer is to do BOTH, as God has commanded.
Years ago, some acquaintances’ kids were trick or treating at my home. Three children of two sets of parents damaged my new home. One had a toy hockey stick and swung it against our built-in entertainment cabinet. One of the vertical trim pieces, dividing two sides of it was deeply indented by the object. Did his mother bust his butt? No. She did the pathetic thing most today do. She says, “(Child’s name), don’t do that.” Did she offer to pay for the damage? Nope. “Christians.” Meanwhile the two boys of the other mother and father present were carving words into the stained oak step-treads in the stairway with die-cast Hot Wheels cars. They destroyed my stair finish. Imagine the cost and labor to even attempt to repair that? Did those “Christian parents” discipline those boys? No, they repeated what the other spineless mother did.
Mere words, leaving me with about $1000.00 out of pocket to get it fixed. PATHETIC! And everyone on-looking thought the same. But would they have done anything different with their little gods? I seriously have no faith that they would have. With God it’s not one or the other. It is spank AND teach. Well…unless your knowledge is higher than the One who made you…… Apparently, most believe so.
Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION of the Lord.
Why did Paul say not to provoke them to anger? Because spanking without teaching brings confusion, not understanding. God‘s word commands us to spank them and to teach them why you did it. But what about those parents who only want to “teach,” but ignore the other part of God‘s command? I’m glad you asked…..
Proverbs 29:19 “By mere words a servant IS NOT DISCIPLINED, for though he understands, he will not respond.”
I wonder why mere words are not effective? Because words have no personal cost to the person hearing them. They just ignore you, or at best pretend to revere you, and go back to what they were doing. A stinging backside does come with a personal cost. Therefore it is effective. Ever wonder why your company doesn’t just repeatedly threaten you to lose your job, but never actually follow through? No, they discipline you for poor performance and behavior. That is life!
What are you teaching your child in preparation for adulthood, by cushioning them in poor behavior? You are preparing them to fail. Have you ever seen one of those parents that is always threatening but never follows through? “Do that again and I’ll spank you! Do that again and I’ll do (this or that)!” Ever watch how the kid is undeterred, because they’ve learned quickly that their parents’ words hold no weight? It’s called lying.
When you tell someone you’re going to do something, and you don’t follow through, they perceive you as a liar, and weak, and they don’t take your word seriously. Therefore they own you! That is exactly what a child does to a parent who barks and never bites. They DO NOT RESPECT YOU. And if they don’t respect their parents by showing immediate obedience, they will NEVER respect others. Therefore the child is running the show and will become a problem to the parent and society, as well as an open shame to the parents. Don’t believe me? I didn’t say it, God did.
Proverbs 29:15 The ROD AND REPROOF give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother and father.
Proverbs 13:1
A wise son hears his father’s instruction,
but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
Proverbs 20:30
Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
strokes make clean the innermost parts.
Do you think God has made it clear what He expects of us, who take His name concerning raising children? He sure talks about corporal punishment a lot, huh? “But Chris, it’s frowned upon today, and I can be put in jail.” Oh yeah? Who do you serve, Jesus or the world?
Whose laws are you commanded to obey first? We are to obey all the laws of the land except when they ask us to disobey God. We are told by Christ that to do His will will bring persecution. So…where’s the communication breakdown?? But why would you ever be willing to suffer in that way when you obviously aren’t willing to suffer the discomfort of actually parenting and disciplining your kids? See my point? YOU are YOUR true focus, but you’re calling it something else. Tell me, is choosing another path of how you discipline God’s wisdom or yours? Is that exalting ourselves above the knowledge of God? Absolutely.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Does every minor infraction of a child warrant corporal punishment with a belt or rod? Of course not. But EVERY infraction that a child commits to the harm, injustice, or dishonor of another human being is to be disciplined harshly, and with clear instruction. Any disrespect, dishonor, physical assault, shaming or bullying, theft, slandering, lying on, deceiving, defrauding, etc. are all worthy of pain on the backside. The rod of correction is God’s wisdom in ridding the child of their folly. Ever notice those kids that cannot keep friends because they disrespect, bully, and mistreat them? Yeah, that is mommy and daddy’s fault. Discipline is imperative anytime it occurs.
Harming anyone physically, emotionally, or mentally is worthy of the stern rod with pain. Every time. The way of God’s kingdom is to respect and treat others as we would want them to treat us. If a child’s behavior is infringing upon another person, it warrants a serious response. There is no discernment involved. God has demanded it. How else is the foolishness shaken in a child? It isn’t. It is not the love of God to withhold a belt, It is the love of the world that withholds it from a child. God said the rod will save the child’s soul from Hell, not earthly wisdom.
Romans 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
James 4:4………Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Something I struggle with is seeing children running the show today. Parents live for their children. They worship their children. The pecking order is wrong. The home is out of balance. Kids are telling mom and dad how they expect things to be, what they will and won’t wear, what they will accept for supper, what they will and won’t do, or behave like, instead of the parents telling the child how it is going to be.
A godly parent provides for the child’s needs, not their desires. A godly parent teaches their kids to be respectful members of society and to honor God in all their ways. When a foolish behavior arises, the belt drives that thinking out of the child’s logic. A godly parent denies their own feelings to ensure the betterment of their child. Is it fun to discipline a child? Of course not, but to be a child of God you have no choice but to deny yourself and do what is right.
Do you think God is sympathetic of your feelings? Absolutely not! Show me a scripture anywhere where God is worried about your feelings? The Jesus of the Bible says YOU ARE THE SERVANT AND HE IS LORD. But sadly, most churches preach a false Christ that is all about poor little you! Awwww. But false Jesus is the one our narcissistic society adores. A self-focused society loves a god that worships them.
2 Timothy 3:2-5
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Are you sympathetic to the fact that God allowed His sinless child to be slaughtered and nailed to a tree to deliver you from your foolishness, owing you absolutely nothing? How you adhere to His law tells the tale. He is just going to judge you based on your actions. Had He refused to allow discipline and pain on His Son, you would have no hope. And if you refuse to administer discipline and pain on your child, your child will suffer far worse than the spankings intended to ensure otherwise.
If the word of God says this….
Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.
….aren’t we to imitate Him? We have a lot of excuses we try to sell to one another, but standing before Christ, we will have none. It is a parent’s responsibility to break the unruly spirit of a child. We will either deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow Him, or we will sow to our flesh and emotions, and reap death, and the eternal death of our children. I have seen far too many reap for their own sins, through their children. Their children have themselves become a disgrace to the parent, or they have perished.
There are two edges to the sword that Jesus brings: Blessing or cursing. We choose which falls on us. We can’t bow to our children and lay claim to Christ. The idol we call our kids must be repented of, and Christ must be Lord. To use a cliché, “If he isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.”
Did you know God’s law in the Old Covenant demanded that a child who dishonored and disrespected its parents be stoned to death?(Deuteronomy 21:18-21) Remember it is the loving God who decreed that! Why is that loving? Because it protects others from the evil influence of a rebellious spirit, that opposes Him. But today, we focus on the rebellious person, as if tolerating them is “love.” God protects those who love Him from the leaven of the lawless.
In the New Covenant, God removed the execution of corporal judgment from the hands of religious leaders, but does that mean God sees the crime any differently today? No. He will be the punisher, not men. Did you know that your children’s behavior is usually a reflection of your obedience or disobedience to God? An unruly child is most often evidence of a disobedient parent. That is why God commands to instill His words in them from their youth, and enforce them diligently through discipline and instruction. That is how they will be “a shame to you”, by exposing your lack of obedience in whipping their tales. They will embarrass you and their behavior will demand an answer of you before others, in revealing your disobedience for all to see.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Did you know the decreed consequence for a child that does not respond in obedience to the parents, and honor their teachings, is that they can die prematurely?
Ephesians 6:1-4
(Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16)
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and discipline of the Lord.
The promise is a long life if they are well-behaved, representing the teachings of God, instilled in them by the obedient parents. Is mistreating other people honoring their parents? Is being a thief, liar, selfish person, violent person, disrespectful person, and so on, honoring of mother and father? No, it’s a shame unto the parents. Paul didn’t say to take them and stone them to death, as was the case with Moses’ Law. Paul said that God will judge them, and their lives may be cursed and cut short for the dishonoring of their parents. How is that prevented? By a parent obeying God and disciplining and instructing the child to be reverent, from the day they can talk and understand words.
Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
My father would bust my tail in front of whoever was present, when I did something inappropriate. He, just like God, wasn’t concerned about my little feelings. He had the attitude that if I didn’t care to embarrass he and the family, and misrepresent how I was being raised before others, then being humiliated and spanked in front of others was a just punishment. And it was. I love my dad for that. Did it embarrass me? Sure. Did I try it again? Usually not.
The home is not a democracy. And the child’s feelings, when it comes to the order and hierarchy of things, are not even to be a denominator. The parents set the order. The child has no say in it, we are commanded to discipline.
Does God allow you or I to have a say in the order of His household? Nope. You are the child, He is the Authority. That is the precedent. Anything else comes from carnality and evil. Look around you! Look at the state of youth today. If you are failing to be diligent in using the rod of correction, you are part of the problem, and the reason for the state of things. I see parents buying clothing for kids that are diabolically rebellious to God. Yes, even people professing Jesus as Lord. Young girls tell their moms, “I want this dress” or “those shorts”, that the mother wouldn’t be caught dead in publicly. But do they obey God and set the precedent for God’s law in the heart of the child? No, they placate to their real god: their child.
The child rules over them, and they believe they are loving the child. God says it is hating the child. But who cares what God thinks, right? People disobey at every hand when it comes to pleasing and making over their kids. In reality, they are damning themselves and their children. I see other parents defending and upholding behaviors that defy the Truth in their kids. It is the antichrist spirit that exalts one’s own wisdom above the knowledge of God. It’s a symptom of a deeper problem, and sadly, one day the harvest will come.
What about those who are tied to sports, even on Sunday, the “Lord’s Day.” They bow to a system that their kids love, lay out of church, or leave church early to make sure their babies get to the practice or a game on time. What is the child learning? That God really isn’t as important as people talk like He is.
We can set God’s day aside for these coaches, who tell us to be on the field on Sundays!” They are usually lost people anyway, who worship games, and have no interest in the things of God! We will just be like the world’s example to them, rather than stand up for Christ, and let them see we value Jesus over their games, so they might perhaps see our witness of His importance. Nah, we wouldn’t want to be made fun of, mocked, or have our kids left out of the team for righteousness’ sake. No we will conform to carnal logic for our kids!!! But when our loved one’s lives are hanging in the balance from some tragedy, we will have the audacity to pray to that same Jesus to save or heal our loved one!
I mean, that’s what Jesus is, right? A genie in the proverbial bottle that we pull out to serve our needs when our life is inconvenienced? No, He is Lord of lords. He is not the servant, Narcissist. You must be.
Bottom-line: You are commanded to diligently use corporal punishment according to God’s Word, along WITH INSTRUCTION AND TEACHING, to save your child from Hell on earth, and in the life to come. Failing God in doing so will reap the converse. No excuses.
As I’m closing this blog out, my dog, a stubborn West Highland White Terrier, is barking incessantly. I tell her to stop, as I cannot stand that. She continues to defy my orders repeatedly. So I reach and turn on the discipline collar we have for her. Amazingly she instantly shuts up at hearing it beep, and crawls into my lap. Behavior gone! You know why? Because it has three modes she has learned. The first is a beep. A warning. The second option is a strong vibration. It’s an escalating warning. The third option is an electrical shock that is very painful and uncomfortable. Ever been shocked changing a light bulb?
It is unpleasant and noteworthy, but not seriously harmful. Nor is this handy tool for disobedient dogs. She knows that belligerence toward me, her authority figure, will not be ignored. She has on occasion pushed the limit to getting the shock. The pain is a cost to her, therefore she has learned to avoid that. Imagine that!! Pain being a deterrent for bad behavior!!! How much smarter is a child than a dog? How much more valuable is a human being with an eternal soul, than a dog that does not have an eternal existence somewhere? Folks, you better start applying the rod/ switch/belt. God demands it. Not only is it discipline for your children, it is also a mechanism God uses TO GROW YOU, in dying to yourself, your feelings, and becoming a servant intent on following God no matter the cost.
Hebrews 12:7-11
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 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.