And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Hebrews 12:5,6
I’m all about encouragement. I love to help people by telling them that I’m on their team and not on their back. When you cut me, I bleed encouragement. Supporting people, organizations, and causes is in my DNA. It’s a big part of who I am and what I’m all about.
But when it comes to having a conversation to help turn someone around from what they’re doing, I’m a completely different kind of person. I’m oh so very weak and scared that I’m going to hurt their feelings. They’re going to immediately hop onto social media and not like me anymore. That they’re going to unfriend me forever.
The really good news is that God’s not like that. Not at all. He’s strong enough to risk our relationship so that we can grow. And the writer to the Hebrews is exactly the same way. He’s willing to step out on a limb and tell the Hebrews what they need to hear. Not what they want to hear, but what’s best for them right now and for their future.
Encouragement. Calling out to someone and bringing them close beside you. But for what purpose? So that you can help them. Comfort them. Strengthen them. This isn’t speaking to a bunch of people, but it’s up close and personal. And what
Discipline. This is instruction, plain and simple. It’s sharing the truth of who God is, what he’s done in Jesus, and how that’s to change the way we live. Discipline does not assume that everyone is just a “blank slate” with nothing already written inside us.
Rebuke. This is the part that we don’t like to talk about when it comes to God, and yet we accept it in every other part of life. This is when God brings pain to us. He doesn’t do it lightly, but to do something that there’s just no other way to do. change and train us.
Forgive me for saying this, but I just don’t get why we get all that upset with God when he rebukes. We took it from teachers when we didn’t get 100% on every test. We took it from coaches who yelled at us when we didn’t do something the way they taught us. We took it from our boss when they lost it after we did the same stupid thing again and again.
Just so you know, it was very easy to write these words. Typing them onto my laptop and seeing them on the screen happened without thinking about them. There was no big, emotional feeling one way or the other.
But living them is something altogether different. Sorry for being so direct and honest, but it’s really difficult to receive pain from God. Maybe it’s so hard because we can’t see him. That there’s no one to try and convince that we don’t deserve it. That we can really learn whatever he’s trying to teach us in another way.
Or maybe we think that because he’s God that he doesn’t understand just how painful it is. He’s been perfect for all time, so no one has ever had to correct him. How can he really get it?
And this is where the God of the Bible is just so wildly different from any and every other religion. Through Jesus, God has experienced and felt every kind of pain, disappointment, loneliness, temptation. He experienced deep emotional rejection, sorrow and frustration. The Apostle Paul personally experienced and understood this,
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18
The most important word in this sentence is consider. Paul was continually thinking about how our present suffering, and what was going on right here and now, wasn’t worth all the trouble. And why? Because he was comparing our short time on earth in comparison to all eternity.
Notice that he doesn’t say that there’s no suffering, or that there’s no pain. Not on your life. It hurts and its real. But he’s telling us that when we compare it to all the time we’ll have throughout eternity, that it’s well worth it.
Whatever skill or talent we have, it didn’t just get better all by itself. Yes, there may have been some natural talent in the beginning. But there was lots and lots of pain that eventually created some advancements. Lots of trials and rejection along the way to our improvement.
God has nothing but our good in his heart and mind. He wants us to grow into the godly men and women that can serve and worship him. That can serve and help the people around us. But all that comes at a price. And that price always includes rebuke.
Noodling Questions
How do you feel about encouraging people? Why?
Is the exact experience needed before you can encourage? Why?
Who’s been the most encouraging person to you this year? Explain.
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