If there is one thing man in his fallen nature despises it is chastening.

We are told in Proverbs 21:2 that,  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:

If this is what the heart of a man tells him this very idea flies in the face of chastening.

If my way is right what correction do I need, natural man says?

Does not the need for correction imply that something is off course?

Does not the need for correction imply that something is wrong with my way?

Correction is not needed if the way is right.

It is only needed when the way is wrong and is headed in the wrong direction.

So it is natural to despise correction.

But God's children are not to rest on the natural.

God's children are not to be content with the natural man.

This is where faith comes in.

We are to believe God and his word and by his grace overcome the natural man.

Because according to 1 Corinthians 2:14, ....the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man despises correction because he is not in tune with the Spirit of God. He is dead.

But we who are supernatural (above natural, alive) are not to despise correction because we are in tune with the Spirit of God.

In fact the supernatural man, the man who has been born again, is to love the chastening hand of the Lord.

The supernatural man knows that the Lord is excellent in judgment and cannot do wrong to any of his creatures.

The natural man despises the chastening hand of the Lord.

But the supernatural man loves the chastening hand of the Lord because His chastening hand conforms his children to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And a mark of your maturity in the Lord is how you receive correction.

Do you welcome it as another grace of the Lord or do you chaff under it as if it were an unjust punishment for an offense undone?

The Bible tells us that chastisement or correction is a privilege of sons.

It is a badge that reveals to you that you are part of the family.

If you do not receive correction from a father then you may properly conclude that you are not part of that family.

Children who receive chastisement are being told that they are part of a family and this knowledge is designed by God to convey security to the child.

The child comes this way from the factory.

It is not an option added by choice of the father or mother

Children who do not receive the proper correction will be insecure because they are being told by that very lack of correction that they are not part of a family.

Love is communicated to the child by the proper biblical correction.

Does not this passage say: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth?

And conversely this is also true: For whom the Lord chasteneth, he loveth!

Chastening or correction is simply a badge of love.

The badge cries out, I'm loved because correction communicates that someone cares for me enough to want me to go the right way!

It communicates love to the child much more than the words, I love you.

What does a infant hear when the mother says I love you? Alabbya?

A baby does not understand words of love!

Do you realize that our loving Father in Heaven provides the mother and the father a way to tell the child that they love the child even before the child can understand words!

God knows this is a must and yet many parents in our day wait until their child can understand the words "I love you".

And then when they say "I love you", it simply communicates that they don't love them.

Because they have not corrected them in the biblical manner.

They place their child in the category of an illegitimate child and not a son, not a rightful heir!

And the same principle applies to the church.

It is the Pastor's duty as the father of the local church family to chastise at times.

It is his duty to correct the sheep in the flock of God.

It is a family responsibility that God expects him to carry out.

And proper correction in accord with the word of God will communicate the Pastor's love for the flock.

But without it the flock will never know the Pastor's love no matter how many times they hear the words "I love you."

Biblical chastening or correction is an act of love.

It is an act of a doer of the word and not a hearer only.

We are not to despise nor abhor it and we are not to be weary of it.

We are expected to always remember that chastening comes from the Lord.

If we think it comes from our parents, or our teacher, or our Pastor or our Boss we need to reflect and meditate again.

Correction comes from our Heavenly Father through his instruments and will continue to come from him as long as we are not conformed to his Son.

Once the job is done he will cease his correction.

He will never exceed the measure of chastisement we need.

It is always apportioned well.

Instead of being weary of correction God expects us to welcome chastisement because each correction aims us closer to the image of his Son!

Correction is like a sculptor chipping away at the block of marble.

Each chip gets the block closer to the intended form of the sculptor.

We are told in this proverb that the Lord delights in his Sons.

And he delights to chastise them because he knows it is for the better of his Sons.

In Hebrews 12 we are told that he chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

That is the bottom line of the questions of trials, afflictions, chastisements, difficulties of life, that we be partakers of his holiness.

What a gift that we are given, the opportunity to be partakers of the holiness of God.

And he does this by conforming his children to the image of his Son.

Since none of us are there, continual correction must be applied, continual chastisement must be applied, to head toward the mark that God has set in his Son.

The right response of God's child is to be thankful and happy for whatever chastening or correction God applies.

Because the result of God's conforming correction is for you and me to be conformed to Jesus Christ.

All things are designed by God to fulfill this purpose!

This father uses very descriptive words in this warning.

He tells his son to not despise chastening.

Sometimes we may think that despising is an internal thing and is not expressed by action but the despise of this proverb results in action.

The word despise in this case means to spurn.

And spurn means to reject with disdain.

It means to scorn to receive or scorn to accept.

It means to treat with contempt.

Spurn is from the root of the word "spur" which means to kick, to drive back or away as with the foot.

So our proverbs father, when he tells his son not to despise the chastening of the LORD, is warning his son to not kick against the correction of the Lord.

Do not fight against the correction of the Lord but welcome the correction of the Lord as a place of safety and protection.

For correction is simply a result of trusting in the Lord.

Do not think of trusting in the Lord as simply a place of comfort and ease for it is not.

Rather it is a place of correction which ultimately brings perfect peace.

And Son you are neither to be weary of his correction.

This does not simply mean to not be tired of being corrected but it means to not sever yourself from correction.

Son, do not put yourself outside of the correction of the Lord.

For to put yourself outside of the correction of the Lord is to put yourself in a place of danger.

The place of correction of the Lord is the place of refuge to which you must flee.

Trusting includes placing yourself under the correcting hand of Almighty God.

Peter said it this way in:

1 Peter 5:6,  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

This is the "bend down and grab your ankles verse" of the New Testament.

Trusting in the Lord includes this important humbling of each of God's children.

Son, I'm not your father simply because you were born of my wife.

I am your father because I correct you.

I earn the right to hear the word father from your lips when I correct you.

I correct you because I love you and so does the Lord correct you because he loves you.

As you are not allowed to kick against my correction so you are not to kick against the correction of the Lord.

As you are not allowed to sever yourself from my correction so you are not to sever yourself from the Lord's correction.

The right thing is to love my chastening hand because my chastening hand promotes a place of safety for you.

And likewise the right thing is to love the chastening hand of the Lord because the chastening hand of the Lord is a place of safety and his chastening hand promotes safety and protection.

For the chastening hand of the Lord conforms his children to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And a mark of your maturity in our home and in the Lord is how you receive correction.

You can welcome it as another grace of the Lord or you can chaff under it as if it were an unjust punishment for an offense undone.

And ultimately you can attempt to sever yourself from his correction.

But God's word tells us that chastisement or correction is a privilege of sons.

Hebrews 12:5-7,  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Chastening then is a badge that reveals to you that you are part of the family.

If you do not receive correction from a father then you may properly conclude that you are not part of that family and that father has not earned the right to be called father.

And likewise if a child despises or kicks against correction and severs himself from correction he severs himself from being called a son!

Children who receive chastisement are being told that they are part of a family and this knowledge is designed by God to convey security to the child.

This knowledge conveys to the child that the child has a place of refuge and protection.

That is the way that God has made the child.

It is not an option added by choice of the father or mother

Children who do not receive the proper correction will be insecure because they are being told by that very lack of correction that they are not part of a family.

They are being told by that very lack of correction that they do not have a father or a mother.

Love is communicated to the child by the proper biblical correction.

Does not this passage say: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth?

And conversely this is also true: For whom the LORD correcteth he loveth!

Chastening or correction is simply a badge of love.

The badge cries out, I'm loved because correction communicates that someone cares for me enough to want me to go the right way!

It communicates love to the child much more than the words, I love you.

God has so made a way to communicate love to a child even before the child can understand words!

God knows this is a must and yet many parents refuse to correct and think that the words "I love you" will make up for this neglect.

They place their child in the category of an illegitimate child and not a son, not a rightful heir!

We are told in this proverb that the Lord delights in his Sons.

And he delights to chastise them because he knows it is for the betterment of his Sons.

Chastisement then comes with trusting!

In Hebrews 12 we are told that he chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

That is the bottom line of the questions of trials, afflictions, chastisements, difficulties of life, that we be partakers of his holiness.

What a marvelous gift that we are given the opportunity to be partakers of the holiness of God.

And he does this by conforming his children to the image of his Son.

Since none of us are there, continual correction must be applied, continual chastisement must be applied, to head toward the mark that God has set in his Son.

The right response of God's child is to be thankful and happy for whatever chastening or correction God applies.

Because the result of God's conforming correction is for you and me to be conformed to his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

All things are designed by God to fulfill this purpose!

With the same thinking we ought to teach our children to say thank you when they are corrected.

For all things in the home are simply preparation for right thinking as our children are given to God to love and to serve him.

But just as our children have responsibilities regarding correction so do parents have responsibilities as they correct

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Chapter 6 verse 4,  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Fathers can easily be the cause of a child despising correction and attempting to sever himself from correction.

As in all relationships each party has a responsibility.

Son, my responsibility is to not provoke you to wrath but your duty is to not kick against my correction and to not sever yourself from my chastisement.

I am to learn to correct as the Lord corrects and you are to learn that my correction is given because I love you.

As the Lord's correction is a place of refuge so also is mine to be.

Then also delight in God's correction for it is an expression of his love for you.

(Delighteth means to be pleased with, to enjoy, If you don't enjoy your children it is because you have not made them enjoyable.)

This proverbs passage can be amplified as: My son, do not kick or rebel against the chastening of the Lord, neither sever yourself from his correction.

For whom the Lord loves he corrects, and this is the pattern of fathers, in fact this is what establishes one as a father!

Haven't you heard the boy who says: You can't tell me what to do you're not my father!

How does, even the rebellious child identify his father?

Of course it is by the authority that he exercises over him!

Authority then is a love relationship and that love relationship is communicated to the child by chastening and correction.

The Lord said this to David when referring to Solomon, David's son.

2 Samuel 7:14,  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

See how quickly God defines what is a father.

So according to the word of God correction is what establishes one as a father.

Now this word correction has wrapped in it the words rebuke, reasoning, arguments, reproofs, and chastening.

It is a word that provides a variety of ways to bring a son back to the right road.

For correction is simply that which brings back to truth something that was in error.

Take the word rebuke. It means to check or to stop.

God stopped the Red Sea from flowing when as reported in Psalm 106:9:

This is what the rebuke of Jesus resulted in, when in:

Matthew 8:26, ...he saith unto them (his disciples), Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

He stopped the winds and that is what rebuke is to do.

It is to stop an action so that correction can be applied.

So many times in rearing children correction is attempted before the transgression is stopped.

The teacher that halts the activity in the class and gets the attention of the students before correction is attempted is the wise teacher.

That is what happens when you sit the child down and make him or her look you in the eye and concentrate so that correction can then take place.

That is what rebuke provides! A listening student!

It provides a student who is ready to be corrected.

That is why a preacher may raise his voice or pound the pulpit at times, to get the attention of the congregation so that correction can be applied.

Rebuke then, is a necessary ingredient to correction for without rebuke or the stopping of the offense correction cannot take place.

The mother sees her child running toward the street.

Her first command is a command of rebuke.

She says stop, loudly and clearly.

She runs to the little one and turns him around to look eyeball to eyeball.

She stares him in the eye demanding his eye stare back until she is sure she has his attention.

She is using rebuke the way rebuke is to be used.

To get the attention of the boy so that reproof can be applied.

That is next. Reproof. What is reproof?

Reproof is blame expressed to the face.

Reproof is censure for a fault.

To convince of a fault, or to make the fault known.

Notice that reproof is composed of two syllables.

The first is "re" which means return or repetition, to restore or bring back.

To redo is to do it again.

To renew is to make something new again.

To renounce is to nounce again. How do you nounce anyway?

(announce, pronounce, renounce)

The word proof is any effort, process or operation which convinces the mind of the certainty of truth or fact and produces belief.

Proof means to bring to truth.

Reproof means to bring back to truth, again and again and again.

Reproof is the bringing back of one who is heading off the right path.

With children this is a continual effort.

Reproof is what Isaiah wrote of in Isaiah 28:10,  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Why must this be?

A father must prove his position, he must prove it again and again and again until it sticks to the son or the daughter.

Prove, and prove and reprove.

That is what the mother is doing to this child about to run into the street.

She is proving to him that he is not to run in the street.

Has she done this before?

Yes, that is why this is rebuke and reproof.

She has on several occasions buked him and proofed him.

Now she rebukes and reproofs him.

And so also is this proverbs father telling his son that he must give his attention to him so that restoration to the right path can take place.

A wise son will be rebuked gently but a foolish son will require strong rebuke in order to be ready to be reproofed.

Some sons require a two by four upside the head but others require no more than the eye of the father.

Simply looking at the offending son is rebuke to the wise son.

And simply from the rebuke the wise son will bring up in his mind the instruction of the father and his way will be corrected.

The wise son will be corrected by remembering past reproof!

So we ought to think of how we chasten and how we correct.

We ought to think of what we are after in the life of the child when we chasten.

We ought to include in our instruction the right response of the wise child to our correction.

For the right response of God's child is to be thankful and happy for whatever chastening or correction God applies.

Because the result of God's conforming correction is for you and me to be conformed to his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

All things are designed by God to fulfill this purpose!

With the same thinking we ought to teach our children to be thankful and to express gratitude when they are corrected.

For all things in the home are simply preparation for right thinking as our children are given to God to love and to serve him.

But just as our children have responsibilities regarding correction so do parents have responsibilities as they correct

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians in Chapter 6 verse 4,

Fathers can easily be the cause of a child despising correction and attempting to sever himself from correction.

As in all relationships each party has a responsibility.

Son, my responsibility is to not provoke you to wrath but your duty is to not kick against my correction and to not sever yourself from my chastisement.

I am to learn to correct as the Lord corrects and you are to learn that my correction is given because I love you and I desire that you love God and serve him with all your heart.

As the Lord's correction is a place of refuge so also is mine to be.

Then also delight in God's correction for it is an expression of his love for you.