Beloved Son

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
BELOVED SON
Prov 13:24
24 He who spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
NIV
Ah yes, the age old spare the rod spoil the child phrase or at least what was quoted to me. It is true that a measure of discipline is needed in the task of rearing offspring in order to assure they grow to a level of maturity capable of being on the right path of life. If a child is allowed to grow without the supportive measures of discipline it is quite possible that child will become less of what he or she could have been or even travel on the wrong paths of life. But I think this may well be speaking of the relationship between God and his creation. This is about God and me. I have no doubt that he loves me deeply because he has not spared the rod with me. I have been disciplined by God but not in the sense that he has whipped me brutally until I fell to my knees in submission. The original language carries the implication of discipline in the form of instruction so as to indicate God instructs me in the proper way to live because he loves me so much. If he did not love me he would not care how I lived my life and what direction I traveled. I am sure he has that same love for everyone. He has said that he loves every person in the entire world for all of time so much that he sent Jesus to die n the cross in order they could return to a proper relationship with him. He attempts to instruct everyone, but some simply refuse to listen. They refuse his disciple and thus will travel the wrong direction and end up in the wrong destination. It is clear God loves us because he has made sure we have all of his instructions for life, recorded and saved, for all of time until he chooses to bring time to an end. I have accepted his discipline, his instruction, although I have failed at times in keeping it. Yet he continues to love me and he continues to discipline my life toward the direction he desires. I am his beloved son.