By Rick Shott, Nokomis Baptist Church
July 9, 2023
This can be right, like a person who has seriously broken their leg. Walking is out of the question, bone grinds on bone, damaging more, and the body rightly reminds you with pain. To the doctor you go. The bone is then set and immobilized, and in a few weeks, you are better. All this comes after some serious screaming.
During University, I volunteered in an Emergency Room at a small hospital in Austin, Texas. Sometimes I was asked to help doctors reset broken bones. The ones that did not need surgery, just pulling the bones back in place. I held something in place while the doctor worked. The patient often screams when the bones are set in place. The patients usually do not remember because of the drugs they are given. The painful work brings correct healing and restores the body.
This is often true of the way we grow. Much of our growth happens organically, but sometimes we need correction to face the truth. Our actions often have consequences. Like pruning a plant, something needs to be cut off; everyone will endure this. To use another analogy, we all have rough edges to be sanded down. This is not pleasant. It hurts. Growing is not easy. Correction can easily hurt the one who helps the other to grow. There is more to growth than people.
This is also a work of the Lord. Consider Hebrews 12:5,6 (ESV), “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Discipline is correction in our personal lives, it can hurt. No one likes to be told they were wrong, but we all are occasionally. God wants us to be better, to be like Jesus, and this means we must grow.
To be honest, this oft seems more like setting a broken bone than putting a band aid on. It hurts and it will make life hard, but because God loves us and wants the best for us. We know that we have grown in the Lord when it happens less. We know that our lives will improve by working through the pain, and growth will come.
It is important to remember this is a sign that God loves you. You can only discipline a growing, living person. People who are not changing are dead. So, discipline is a sign that there is more to life for you.
I would add as well often, God helps us through other people. At times we are tempted to say they are mean when our friends are trying to help us grow. Sometimes they might just be clumsy. A few people are simply mean, but watch out for a friend that helps you to grow. They are a gift from God.
