Feeling The Heat

The LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.

Hebrews 12:6, NLT

Hot sauce adds a kick to salsa, barbecue, and hundreds of other foods. But some parents use it in a different recipe—one they think will yield better-behaved children. They put a drop of it on their son’s or daughter’s tongue as punishment for lying, biting, hitting, or other offenses. I do not recommend putting hot sauce on your child’s tongue, but those who use this form of punishment say it is effective in teaching their children valuable and long-lasting lessons.

Earthly parents use a wide variety of methods to correct children in order to encourage them to be better people. Our heavenly Father loves His children so much that He sometimes has to discipline us to help us to obey. Our response to God’s discipline is incredibly important. We must endure, and we must willingly change our wayward behavior. After all, God’s purpose in bringing discipline to our lives is to make us righteous. As it is with parental authority, “feeling the heat,” so to speak, proves God’s love for you. His discipline proceeds entirely from His love.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

C. S. LEWIS