Godly Correction.

Submitted by: Anonymous

I Corinthians 1:2-17 (NLT)
We are writing to the church of God in Corinth, you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did all Christians everywhere--whoever calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and theirs. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his grace and peace. I can never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5He has enriched your church with the gifts of eloquence and every kind of knowledge. This shows that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong right up to the end, and he will keep you free from all blame on the great day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won't be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe's household have told me about your arguments, dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, "I am a follower of Paul." Others are saying, "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Peter, " or "I follow only Christ." Can Christ be divided into pieces? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. I don't remember baptizing anyone else.) For Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News--and not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

Hebrews 12:10 (NLT)
For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in his holiness.

Proverbs 13:24 (NLT)
If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don't love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.

Proverbs 15:5 (NLT)
Only a fool despises a parent's discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise.

These three are only a few of the scriptures that talk about discipline, but what is Godly Discipline you may be asking? Godly discipline is almost exactly like regular, earthly discipline, the only difference is how you go about giving it. If you tell the child that you still love him/her, and that your doing it for his/her own good, it's godly. If you need to, to prove what you said is true, show them Proverbs 13:24, for it says that very thing. We have been given a great example of Godly discipline in I Corinthians. When he began his letter, the first 10 or so verses gave peace to the church, and showed his love he still had for them, then all of a sudden, he asks them not to do it anymore for their own good. They looked up to him, and since he knew, they got a godly spanking in the heart. They felt really bad. Sometimes all you have to do to discipline someone is to show them how much you love them, then tell them that you know what they did. It breaks their hearts to hear you pouring your heart out to them, and then you reminding them of their wrong doings. Spiritual spankings affect a person way more then a physical spanking. Other times, if that doesn't work, a physical spanking may be needed, but it still has to be Godly. Later on in the book of I Corinthians, he mentioned that his eyes were filled with tears as he wrote the letter to them, this only was put in to remind them again that he cared about their well-being. This only shows us that if we want to discipline someone, do it by showing that person how much we love them, and keep on reminding them of that. And if you receive discipline, don't get mad that it came, for all discipline is for your own good, no matter if it is godly or not. It is foolish, as the Bible says, to hate discipline. And not learning from correction is also foolish. Godly discipline hurts only for a short time, but if you don't receive it, you will receive a greater discipline when you die and "think" you're on your way to heaven, not because you never were punished, but because when that punishment didn't come, you just kept on doing the wrong, and never feeling bad about it. It's time for everyone to wake up, and receive correction with joy. The end is near, and if you don't leave sin for good, you could end up receiving your reward, death. So, receive the disciplines you will be given in life with joy, for it is only for the good of your spirit. And, I want to challenge you today, the next time you are disciplined, thank the person, he/she's helping you reach your goal, a one way trip to heaven.