August 27 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The worst thing parents can do is to let their children have their own way. The theory of permissive upbringing has produced a shocking number of disturbed youngsters and spoiled brats. The cause of much juvenile delinquency is parental delinquency. Parents who do not discipline their children do not love their children.

God loves his children. That's why God disciplines them. When God administers this medicine, it seems "painful," not pleasant.

Some Christian teachers and writers have taken this to mean that as soon as something hard or painful comes into our lives, we must thank our heavenly Father because it's good for us. But this is not possible or even desirable. The first experience is pain. Pain cannot be effective medicine if we experience it as pleasure.

When grief strikes or pain comes, the first temptation is to lose our trust in God. So the first thing we must do is keep quiet. Silence is the first grace. While staggering under the blow, we should say nothing.

But then, if the discipline is to have its desired effect, we must be "trained" by it. It must be a learning experience. That's what God intends it to be, and we may not doubt God's loving goal.

The "training" does not take place automatically, just as going to school does not guarantee that we learn anything. Some Christians who have suffered much have learned little. Others were "trained" by God's discipline, and the "harvest of righteousness" is there for all to see.

It is impossible to say what each of us should learn. Parents know the differences between their children, and they vary the discipline for each accordingly. God, our loving and discerning Father, knows just what each of us should learn.

And countless children of God thank their Father today for what they learned in periods of grief and loss and disappointment.

REFLECTIONS

How should we respond to God when God disciplines us?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.