God's Love and His Discipline are not Contradictory

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Hebrews 12:6

Dear Friends,

Scripture is clear – because God loves, He corrects. God likens Himself to a loving earthly parent that corrects those He cares so much for, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth…” (Hebrews 12:6).

Some in the modern-day church mistakenly think however that since God is full of grace and mercy, He doesn’t convict sin. Christian author, Joseph Prince, who pushes the fake-grace heresy writes, “the Holy Spirit never convicts you of your sins”, echoes this common thought. For whatever reason, he has chosen to overlook this verse, and others like it, that clearly indicate God’s loving discipline.

Let’s wrap our heads around what loving “divine discipline” is not. It is not punishment, nor is it a way of paying for your sins. What is God’s discipline? It is the sometimes gentle, and sometimes not so easy, aligning of us to His will.

When our daughter, Elizabeth, was very young she had scoliosis of the spine. It became so severe that we took her to an orthopedic surgeon and they gave her a back brace to wear. Hours every day, she was forced to wear this very uncomfortable back brace trying to align her spine. As caring parents, we realized that this discomfort was a necessary correction. We did this because we loved her.

God’s great love and His discipline are not opposing doctrines…they go hand-and-hand. I’m sure God overlooks many of our failures, as it says in the book of Acts, “…the times of this ignorance God winked at…” (Acts 17:30). But out of His great love for us, He also will correct us when things get out of hand.

Thanking God for a Loving Father Today,

Dr. Tim Pollock, Senior Pastor