Discipling through Scripture

My mind tends to wander from thought to thought so that in the end I sometimes have no idea how I got from my first thought to the last thought. Last night I was reading a book called Creative Correction which I picked up on account of my middle child, Austin. He is a wonderful, loveable little boy, but also can be a handful. You see, he is adorable and knows it.

The Smith Clan - Can you guess which one is Austin?

Anyway, it was talking about how God is the perfect example of how a loving parent disciplines their children out of love. A loving parent is not too strict and demanding, but at the same time does not give in to their children. They allow them to suffer consequences for their actions.

" . . . My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as his son."

~Hebrews 12:5-6

The author (Lisa Whelchel) has explained this to her children with the example of an umbrella. The kids are standing under an umbrella which represents their parents. As long as they stay under that umbrella, mom and dad will be able to protect them from whatever rains down on them. If they step out from under mom & dad's direction (umbrella) they must suffer the consequences of what rains down, without mom and dad's protection. This is the same for us, except our umbrella is much better because it is our all knowing Father in Heaven!

The following scripture is listed in this chapter and got me to thinking about how this applies to our lives.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

~2 Timothy 3:16-17

This got me to thinking about how God sees us as His children. Think of how you love your children and try to guide them to do what is right. God does the same for us.

I remember my mother many times telling me that no matter how old I get, I'll always be her little girl. Here I am now, almost 32 with three children of my own and she still sees me as her little girl. I am starting to understand that now with my own little ones.

This is also how God sees us. No matter how old we are or what we've accomplished in our lives, we are still God's little girls and boys. That is comforting to know. He will always be there to protect me if I stay under His umbrella. If I step out I'll have to suffer getting wet, but He'll always have room for me to step back under His umbrella!