How do we know if God is disciplining us? When we feel guilty after sinning, is that discipline? The Bible says that God disciplines those He loves. I sometimes wonder if God disciplines me, and I find it comforting to imagine that He does because it reminds me He loves me.<\/p>\n\t
“You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 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. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:4-14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The discipline being spoken of in Hebrews 12 is not always a result of sin. God uses hardships to cause us to grow, just as a coach uses laps to strengthen an athlete. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing<\/em>” (James 1:2-4).<\/p>\n
These hardships can take on various forms, but neither the Hebrews writer nor James is talking about feeling guilty after sinning. You should feel guilty when you realize you have done wrong, but this is your feeling about the matter. Your feelings can be wrong (Proverbs 28:26). You can feel guilty about something that was not a sin. You can sin and not feel guilty about it (Jeremiah 6:15; I Timothy 4:1-2).<\/p>\n
Unlike feelings, discipline comes in facing difficulties. “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us<\/em>” (Romans 5:3-5). So we are talking about religious persecution (Matthew 5:10-12), financial hardships (II Corinthians 11:27), dangers (II Corinthians 11: 25-26), sickness (II Corinthians 12:7-10), etc.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: How do we know if God is disciplining us? When we feel guilty after sinning, is that discipline? The Bible says that God disciplines those He loves. I sometimes wonder if God disciplines me, and I find it comforting to imagine that He does because it reminds me He loves me. Answer: “You have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[703,669,188],"class_list":["post-52368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-guilt","tag-punishment","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9278,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-childs-personality-be-considered-when-disciplining\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":0},"title":"Should a child’s personality be considered when disciplining?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We ought to consider our children's personalities and characters when we seek to discipline them.\u00a0 What works well for one child may not work for another, even within the same family.\u00a0 Might spanking be a good form of discipline for one child, but ineffective or damaging to another?\u00a0 Are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-would-you-say-to-a-young-teenager-who-sometimes-feels-weak-because-he-lost-his-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":1},"title":"What would you say to a young teenager who “sometimes feels weak” because he lost his mother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, By way of counseling, what would you say to a young teenager who \"sometimes feels weak\" because he lost his mum? Answer: Life is filled with difficulties. You can either let them overwhelm you or you can overcome them. God allows Satan to bring difficulties into our lives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-child-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":2},"title":"What does it mean to be a child of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does it mean to be a child of God? Answer: \"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2906,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-discipline-of-children-spanking\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":3},"title":"Notes on Discipline of Children, Spanking","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Deuteronomy 8:5 \"You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.\" [Note: \"chastens\" means to chastise literally with blows or figuratively with words] Deuteronomy 21:18 \"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-christians-experience-temporal-judgments\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":4},"title":"Do Christians experience temporal judgments?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you feel Christians experience \"temporal judgments\" here on this earth right now? In other words, if a born again believer is not walking according to what the Scriptures teach, do they experience temporary judgments in order to get them to come around to the Lord\u2019s way before it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-doesnt-tempt-with-evil-then-why-did-he-send-saul-an-evil-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":52368,"position":5},"title":"If God doesn’t tempt with evil, then why did He send Saul an evil spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you explain what the evil spirit is in I Samuel 16:14 that was from the Lord? I don't understand what this could be in light of passages such as Romans 2:11, James 1:13, etc. Answer: \"Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}