"Thank God for Whipping Me"

Scripture: "For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” -Hebrews 12:6, NLT

I knew of a five-year old little boy back in the 80's struggling to make good grades. In the days of Kindergarten, you did not have A's or B's, but you had number grades where 1's and 2's were the equivalents of A's and B's. During this time, the little boy was making 3's and 4's and for some reason or another, did not really pay attention to his teacher. Because of that, the teacher contacted the little boy's mother and once the little boy made it home, the mother whipped him one good time. Afterwards, the little boy went from making 3's and 4's to making 1's and 2's. If truth were told, many of us have experienced beatings or whippings from our parents because we either ran our mouths too much, lied about something, and the list goes on and on. If we take a look at this thing spiritually, we have a God who whips us when we get out of line and unruly. Why does God whip us as His children? Today's text will provide further clarity on this matter.

Today's main scripture can be found in the book of Hebrews. Within this book, we learn about the great word faith and our forefathers and foremothers who exhibited faith, the greatness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and other things. Within this twelfth chapter, the writer provides us with encouragement to be constant and persevere. This trend of thought takes me to what Paul told the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 15:58 to "be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the works of the Lord …". Though the chapter provides us this encouragement, this chapter also provides us with why we should thank God for whipping us.

The writer of Hebrews answers this question right from the get go. He tells us "For the Lord disciplines those He loves". Deep but simple thought, right? If we sit and think back, many of the beatings and whippings we received from our parents forced us to grow up and stop doing the things we did. Once upon a time, you may have lied to get yourself out of a situation, but once Mama or Daddy whipped you, you stopped lying! Once upon a time, you may have cheated to get through a class in grade school, but once Mama or Daddy or whomever whipped you, you stopped cheating! In the same aspect with God, when He saw that you were going down a road that was not pretty, He whipped you so you would turn from your wicked ways and go straight! Many of us have called ourselves being bad and hurting peoples' feelings, but when God whipped us, we stopped hurting peoples' feelings! Through these whippings/beatings, God, just like your parents, wanted you to do right and still let you know that He loves you!

Because He loves us and disciplines us, the text concludes by saying, "and He punishes each one He accepts as His child". Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to think about something for one moment: Haven't we all had the "Why me, Lord" times in our lives? Well guess what? You ought to say now, Why not me? God allows things to occur in your life because He wants you to know that He accepts you as His child. As kids, our parents would punish us, but at the end of the day, we were still their child. If truth were told, anytime you were on punishment, you could not do what you wanted to do and it gave you an opportunity to think about your actions. When God punishes us, it puts us in that same boat to think about what did you do wrong and how you will straighten out in the future. We ought to Thank God for His punishment, that in turn, assures us that we are His children!

In closing, the whippings/beatings we received growing up may have hurt for a moment or two, but the long term effects have benefited us throughout the duration of our lives. God disciplines and punishes us because He loves us and He wants us to straighten up and fly right! Aren't you glad that God whipped you? I am!