Hebrews 12:11 – Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
In today’s culture, when someone is trying to communicate a message – especially a difficult one, there’s a strong tendency to “craft” or “spin” the message in a manner that delivers the general idea but puts it in a way that makes it easier to hear and receive. This methodology is like putting frosting on brussel sprouts – the brussel sprouts don’t taste good , but they’re good for us. Therefore, you put something that tastes good on what is good for you, but the icing has no real value – it actually can hurt you and diminish the value of what the brussel sprouts have to offer.
Have you ever asked yourself why today’s culture promotes such a methodology to communicating difficult news? One possible answer is that we don’t like hearing difficult or bad news – that’s pretty obvious. Another reason – and one we should study carefully – is that the communicator is afraid to deliver the message because of the fear we won’t like the messenger because the message is painful. Therefore, regardless of the reality or truth of the message – and the benefit it may bring, the messenger is more concerned about his welfare – being liked – than he is about delivering to us what we need to hear – no matter how painful – the truth. That should lead us to question the integrity of the messenger.
If you read the Bible, you will never get treated like that. God is more concerned with you knowing the truth than He is with your feelings being spared by being misled with sugarcoated messages of something that is of real value to us. Today’s verse is a perfect example – chastening, or discipline, isn’t joyful – it’s painful – it hurts! Do you see any spin or crafting of this information? What a novelty that we get delivered a clear-cut message of truth!
God cannot lie – He’s going to tell us the truth – no matter how painful it might be. He does this because it is for our own good. That is what discipline, or chastening, is – it is a methodology of delivering truth. When a child throws a tantrum because he isn’t getting what he wants, he should be disciplined. Why? Because the child needs to learn the truth that we don’t get everything we want. By delivering this message of truth consistently, the child will come to learn this truth and will stop throwing tantrums (at least for that reason!). If discipline, or the truth, isn’t applied, the child is going to grow up and think that if he doesn’t’ get what he wants, throwing a tantrum is acceptable. Well, it isn’t, and that person is going to be an unhappy person because he was never told the truth.
The second half of today’s verse reveals two things. First, God’s discipline is only for a season – this is evidenced by the word, ‘afterward’. This should bring hope for those who are going through a season of God’s discipline. Secondly, there’s a purpose to God’s discipline – we obtain a “peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”. That means God’s motivation behind His discipline is to bring us peace, which is found in righteousness. God’s discipline, or the truth, is designed to conform us into His image, and He is righteous. Therefore, as we are disciplined by Him and told the truth, we obtain His peace.
Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” God tells the truth – discipline is painful. But the whole truth is that His discipline has a purpose – to bring you His peace. It’s hard to thank God when we’re experiencing the pain of His discipline, but when we know it comes with a purpose, it gives us hope that His peace is on the way.