Discipline, correction given to you by your conscience, conviction from God - these things we know we should accept, we know we should even love them, but how and why? I will give you fears we may have about accepting discipline and why we should not fear but love discipline.
1) We (or I) used to be hesitant to receive discipline for a number of reasons.
a) First of all you're being told you're wrong. Well, that's just annoying. I'm wrong again? Please just give me a break! No one likes to be told they're wrong.
b) We fear that we will lose control of our lives - someone else is controlling us. You are obeying some...other conception of right and wrong, some...thing out there you don't exactly understand. You are being asked to submit to an unknown law. Who knows what it may ask you to do?
c) Naturally you will have to change something you were doing and do it differently. We don't like change. We like our sin. That's one of the central properties of sin - we like it. Recognizing that (without admitting that you're in bondage to your habit or desire), is one of the first steps.
2) These fears are...based on falsehood in some instances and irrelevant in others.
a) Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid."
If you are about to take a bite of what you think is cake - heaven knows what it really is - you'd prefer your friend tells you what it really is. I mean, you may be a little disappointed, depending on whether he shows you where the real cake is, but you'll thank him/her for it. It's really simple, you prefer to know what's true, even if it means you're wrong. The key is you need to trust that what God says in the bible and in your conscience is true. Do you believe they're true? Really? If you don't, go research it. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology is a hefty book useful for many Christian topics. However if you do, in fact, believe it's true, which I hope you do - consider the struggles you have with your conscience, situations where you're trying to find the right thing to do. If you really do believe it's true, the choice is clear pretty often. The struggle you're having is not confusion, it's between what your flesh or mind wants and what your spirit wants. Read Romans 7-8:17
b) There is a solution to the unknown force that disciplines you - research it! God wants to make himself known to you. It's why he wrote the bible. The longest chapter, Psalm 119, is all about Gods law and how awesome it is. Romans 12:2, Jeremiah 31:33-34. God wants you to know his law, his will, his discipline. Another component of it is trust. God's pretty awesome yes? And he loves you yes? So, logically, doing what he says is probably the most intelligent thing to do, yes? Right. And look back on past times he has taught you things, see if you should expect it to be the same this time. Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."
c) This is the same sort of reasoning as a). Do you want to be a better person? God is offering you a free seminar on how to be a boss at life. All charges paid unbeatable plan download right to your brain. Cheat codes to life. A sneak peak at the end of the story. In fact, these are even better than cheat codes, they don't allow you to misuse them. Free candy is awesome, but it just sits there asking to be eaten, more and more, until you have a huge headache and regret it. God won't let you misuse the power he gives you to a excessively devastating extent. (He will allow you to make mistakes, but only to teach you a lesson). Who wouldn't want such a thing? What more can you ask? That he'd let you do whatever you want? He does not keep you from choosing this path, though he will not keep you from it's consequences. Do you want him to shift the foundations of reality so your sins do not count against you and you will not die? He did that already.
God presented the same deal to the nation of Israel after he rescued them from Egypt. Deuteronomy 30:19-20" This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
3) Concluding remarks
Following God is never easy. People tell you that and you just say 'yeah...whatever' and then when temptation and hardships and confusion comes, Proverbs 5:12 "You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!" You say 'whoa! I don't want this? what's right and wrong? your law is just ugly and hard!'. Right. So is exercise and most of everything else that is good and makes you stronger.
Fight, exercise your will and choose what is right. With time you will gain more understanding and strength. Though it will never get easier you will always become more like Jesus, sanctified. And in the end Proverbs 19:20 "Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise."
4) See also:
James 1:2-5 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
Romans 2:15 "They [Gentiles] show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them."
b) There is a solution to the unknown force that disciplines you - research it! God wants to make himself known to you. It's why he wrote the bible. The longest chapter, Psalm 119, is all about Gods law and how awesome it is. Romans 12:2, Jeremiah 31:33-34. God wants you to know his law, his will, his discipline. Another component of it is trust. God's pretty awesome yes? And he loves you yes? So, logically, doing what he says is probably the most intelligent thing to do, yes? Right. And look back on past times he has taught you things, see if you should expect it to be the same this time. Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."
c) This is the same sort of reasoning as a). Do you want to be a better person? God is offering you a free seminar on how to be a boss at life. All charges paid unbeatable plan download right to your brain. Cheat codes to life. A sneak peak at the end of the story. In fact, these are even better than cheat codes, they don't allow you to misuse them. Free candy is awesome, but it just sits there asking to be eaten, more and more, until you have a huge headache and regret it. God won't let you misuse the power he gives you to a excessively devastating extent. (He will allow you to make mistakes, but only to teach you a lesson). Who wouldn't want such a thing? What more can you ask? That he'd let you do whatever you want? He does not keep you from choosing this path, though he will not keep you from it's consequences. Do you want him to shift the foundations of reality so your sins do not count against you and you will not die? He did that already.
God presented the same deal to the nation of Israel after he rescued them from Egypt. Deuteronomy 30:19-20" This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
3) Concluding remarks
Following God is never easy. People tell you that and you just say 'yeah...whatever' and then when temptation and hardships and confusion comes, Proverbs 5:12 "You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!" You say 'whoa! I don't want this? what's right and wrong? your law is just ugly and hard!'. Right. So is exercise and most of everything else that is good and makes you stronger.
Fight, exercise your will and choose what is right. With time you will gain more understanding and strength. Though it will never get easier you will always become more like Jesus, sanctified. And in the end Proverbs 19:20 "Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise."
4) See also:
James 1:2-5 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."
Romans 2:15 "They [Gentiles] show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them."
