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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.