Proverbs 5

And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭5:11-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

At the end of your life, what will you see when you reflect back on the time you spent on Earth?  Will you be happy with the choices you made?  Specifically, how did you respond to discipline and correction from others, including God?  Some of us may come to the end of our lives with a feeling of dread, knowing that we followed our own desires and our own feelings, without heeding advice from Scripture, the Holy Spirit, or others around us.  Hopefully, most of us will look back on our lives and will be full of joy and peace because we will see how much we have learned, changed, and matured due to readily accepting godly correction and guidance.  No one likes to be disciplined.  But it is part of the process of growing and becoming more like Christ.  “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).  As God’s children and His representatives here on Earth, it is VERY important to Him that we accept correction and acknowledge its value as a necessary training tool.  Making mistakes is part of being human.  But the moment we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us.  “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).  He helps us be more clearly aware of right and wrong, guides our thoughts and choices, corrects us, and offers comfort and encouragement.  John 16:8 says this about the Holy Spirit: “When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.”  We have one life to live, and our goal is to become more and more Christ-like with each passing day.  This is only possible through following the counsel of the Holy Spirit and readily accepting His discipline.  How can we follow the guidance of the Spirit if we can’t see or hear Him?  We need to pay close attention to how we feel in our hearts as we interact with people and experience life.  When we feel convicted, uneasy or guilty about a situation – we are likely being corrected.  It is at this moment that we need to decide to accept His discipline and make changes to handle the situation differently next time.  God will also use testing, trials and consequences to strengthen our faith, bring us closer to Him, and destroy any strongholds that sin may have over us.  No matter how difficult this may be to endure, we need to remember that the motive for the Lord’s discipline is always love.  “And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” (Hebrews 12:5-7). 

God wants what is best for us, wants us to exhibit lives of holiness, and wants our lives to reflect the new nature that He has given us because of our identity in Christ.  Accepting this should make it easier to follow the advice of James, Jesus’ brother, in James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”