Real Discipline

Discipline is an important subject which is misunderstood many times. We see people take different extreme positions when it come to this subject. Some people just don’t like it since they think that discipline and love of God are incompatible. Look at what the Bible says about this matter.

“For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child." (Heb. 12:6, NLT) 

So one thing is sure that love of God and discipline are not two opposite ideas. When it comes to dealing with our children and discipline, the Bible says that, “If you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.” (Proverbs 13:24). Regarding discipline we have to make sure that we understand why we need to discipline someone. It is not what we do to the person but we do it for the person  and for their own good.  

“The parent must convince himself that discipline is not something he does to the child; it is something he does for the child.”— James C. Dobson

What is Discipline? Good discipline should include these three aspects.

• Instruction– We have to teach the child or other person the right way to go. Without teaching the right way we should not hold someone accountable for right action or behavior. We should make sure that we give time for providing instruction.  
• Training– We also need to spend enough time working with the child or other person, help him or her to learn. Many times repeated training is required to make someone familiar with the correct way to do something.   
• Correction–Finally we should not ignore the correction part. Correction is done to change the behavior or response if it does not match with the instruction and training which was given.

Many times people only focus on correction and ignore instruction and training. Make sure we are careful about how we administer discipline. Punishment and other methods may come in the middle but fundamentally we should be aware that giving instruction, providing training and doing correction are equally important. When God discipline us, then also it may involve these things.

May God help us to have the correct perspective about discipline.