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“For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth…” (Heb. 12:6).  Parents who love their children discipline them for their greater good.  Discipline takes on many different forms:  suffering for righteousness sake, verbal reproof, rewards, punishments–including corporal punishment.  Our Heavenly Father loves His children and disciplines them.  Love and correction go together.  Heb. 12:5-6 is a quotation from Proverbs 3:11-12.  In the Old Testament passage, the sage or wise man addresses his son.  No particular individual is addressed.  The wise man teaches his son to accept graciously God’s discipline of his life.  God disciplines out of love.  Love seeks the highest good of another.  The goal of God’s discipline is holiness or the fruit of righteousness.  In the New Testament passage, God’s love is emphasized as His motive for discipline.  The goal is the same, i.e. to produce holiness or the fruits of righteousness.  This noble purpose is one reason why God’s discipline of the Christians’ life must not be despised.
Discipleship Entails Discipline
Discipleship denotes a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through obedience to the gospel, we have entered into spiritual oneness with Christ and our goal is to be like Him.  Discipline involves:  training in righteousness, education, punishments, and rewards.  Christians must be in subjection to God under all circumstances of life (Heb. 12:9; Heb. 12:1-3).  We set our eyes on Jesus and attempt to follow in His steps.
Chastening Must Be Endured
To “endure” chastening means that we “abide under” or “bear up courageously.”  We must exhibit spiritual strength and toughness in the face of chastening which for the present is not joyous.  The opposite of bearing up is to be faint, be weary, show hands that hang down or feeble knees (Heb. 12:3, 12).  Just as Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered, so we learn obedience by the things which we suffer (Heb. 5:8-9).
Love and Correction
God’s chastening is a sign of His love and spiritual relationship to Him.  Christians belong to Christ because they have been redeemed by His blood (I Cor. 6:19-20).  Those who do not sustain this vital spiritual connection are not subject to God’s chastening.  They are bastards and not sons (Heb. 12:8).  God is continually seeking the highest good of His children.  Chastening encourages their spiritual growth and advancement in Christlikeness.  Two objects are in view:  holiness (Heb. 12:10) and the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11).  Spiritual life flourishes under God’s discipline and produces fruitfulness and spiritual maturity.
In the absence of discipline, evil goes unchecked, sin is normalized, false doctrines are normalized and God is mocked because of a Christian’s hypocrisy.  Discipline that is corrective recognizes God’s righteous standard which proceeds from His own holiness.  The goal of the Christian life is Christlikeness and through discipline God seeks to preserve relationship with us so that we can be with Him forever in heavenly realms. Consequently, we must not despise God’s chastening of our lives, but we must give Him the respect, reverence, and love that rightfully belongs to Him.

Various circumstances in life can bring us to a moment of truth.  The moment of truth can reveal the truth about ourselves.  When we fail, we experience a moment of truth. We come face to face with our own humanity and weaknesses.  The time of temptation is a moment of truth.  The truth about God and His Son, Jesus Christ, can and often is a moment of truth.  The first time we realize our need of salvation through Jesus Christ is a moment of truth.  The first time we experience betrayal from a friend is a moment of truth about the treachery the human heart is capable of accomplishing.
In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul brings the Gentiles (chapter one) and the Jews (chapter two) to a moment of truth:  all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
The Moment of Truth For Gentiles
God had revealed Himself to the Gentiles (Rom. 1:19).  His eternal power and godhead was revealed (Rom. 1:20).  Paul declares, “they are without excuse.”  They stand defenseless before God.  The reason, God revealed Himself, His power and His glory to all men, but the Gentiles gave up their knowledge of God and turned to idols (Rom. 1:21-23).  The lack of the knowledge of God, led them into all manner of wickedness.  Paul enumerates their sins in Rom. 1:23-32.  They fell short of the glory of God.  The realization of this spiritual condition was their moment of truth.
The Moment of Truth For the Jews
In Rom. 2, Paul turns his attention to the spiritual condition of the Jews.  They practiced the same things that they condemned in others (Rom. 2:1).  They were guilty of transgressing God’s law.  They experienced the moment of truth about themselves.  Paul further instructs them concerning the purpose of the law.  The law defined sin, but was weak in that it could not remit sin.  The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin (Heb. 10:4).  The only way a Jew could be justified by the law was to keep the law perfectly.  However, no Jew could do this.  Consequently, the Jews face the moment of truth about the law.  The Jews also had to face the truth about Jesus.  Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and the savior of the world.  Jesus was and is the savior of the Jews.  The widespread rejection by the Jews of Jesus Christ as savior would lead to their destruction.  Paul summarizes, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin” (Rom. 3:9).  Paul continues, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19).  The Jew stands defenseless before God convicted of sin.
The Moment of Conversion–A Moment of Truth
Jews and Gentiles are saved by one gospel–the gospel of Christ.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”  There is one faith and there is one savior (Eph. 4:4-6; Acts 4:12).  The same gospel is preached to Jews (Acts 2) and to the Gentiles (Acts 10).  When the Jew and Gentile obeyed the gospel, they became the children of God.  “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).
The Moment of Truth For Every Person
Paul declares, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:4-6).  The Judgment Day of God will be a moment of truth for every person.  Each of us must face the things that we have done in our lifetimes.  God’s righteousness will be the standard of judgment.  The judgment will be inescapable.  It will be universal.  Our lives will be measured by God’s truth.  This defines the most important moment of truth we will ever face.  Hopefully, we will face the moment of truth about ourselves, our God, His Son Jesus Christ and the gospel of Christ before we have to face the moment of truth in judgment before God.  In that day, we will be defenseless.  No excuses, no alibis, no elaborate justifications will hep us.  We will face the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!