The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 14:34 (day four)

Our worldview in the West is so heavily individualistic that we often view salvation and repentance through that lens too. Yes, salvation and repentance are for individuals, but they are also for communities and nations. So much of what the Old Testament prophets address is about collective repentance and national righteousness. Daniel repents on behalf of the entire nation. Isaiah calls for the collective people of Israel to turn from their wicked ways. It seems almost impossible today in our modern, Western worldview that an entire nation could repent and turn to God. Yet, it comes up over and over again in Scripture.

So how do we move towards corporate repentance and righteousness? It’s more than standing on our religious high horse repeating, “America just needs to get back to God.” Yes, of course she does. But tropes won’t help us achieve that. It’s more than just politics and policies, though those are important.

I wonder if it starts with considering Jesus’ vision for us in John 17:22-23, “The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.”

The more we pursue and experience the glory and unity of life in the Spirit that Jesus describes in our homes, small groups, congregations, neighborhoods, etc., the more national righteousness seems possible.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 14:34 (day three)

“Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.”

What is righteousness? Is it doctrinal purity? Devotion? Moral behavior? A profession of faith? God and country? Progressive cred? Repudiation of liberalism? Siding with the tax collector instead of the Pharisee in Jesus’s parable of the men who when to the temple to pray? Many will insist they aren’t perfect, even though they think they’re right. Righteousness is tricky that way, for individuals and for the nations. Claims to righteousness often have the effect of drawing lines and fracturing community. These days, it’s not uncommon to hear groups of people setting themselves against each other, declaring they’d rather not build a nation with those who don’t meet their standards. What kind of disgrace awaits such a people?

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 14:34 (day two)

Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.

Sin is a disgrace. Let’s face it, we can never be truly righteous and free from sin. It is struggle that we confront each and every day. The challenge to ‘take up our cross’ is not an idle one. It begins with realizing those areas where we have fallen short…again. Thanks be to God that we can lay them at the feet of Jesus and be made clean.

Although our pursuit of righteousness will always be tinged with our fallen nature and tendency to sin, it is in that willingness to address sin that will separate us from the world. If we are consumed by sin, and every facet of our lives publicly and privately profess that sin controls us, it doesn’t matter what amount of ‘good’ we do. That good will always be viewed in connection to the overwhelming sin that surrounds everything else.

Our pursuit of righteousness must be marked with humility. It must begin with a desire to seek after only what that Lord desires, and to rid our lives of the things which hinder that pursuit. Then a people, a nation, can be exalted.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day seven)

As I think through this text and how I parent, the question I find myself asking is how does God discipline me?

When our children are learning to ride a bicycle, they fall… a lot! When they fall, we don’t wrap them in bubble wrap or remove all the obstacles from their path. We pick them back up, point them in the right direction, and hope they crash into something softer next time. We let them fall to make them stronger. Eventually, they will learn to ride the bike with ease because their ability has been transformed through adversity.

God’s discipline is not meant to punish us. God’s discipline is meant to transform us. Our punishment was fulfilled in the cross. His discipline transforms us through repentance. We will fall. Sometimes He will even let us fall, but He is the Good Father who is always there to pick us up when we fall so that He can point us in the right direction. Romans 2:4 tells us His kindness leads us to repentance. Through that repentance, the crashes will get softer and less often. Eventually, we will navigate the adversity with ease because our heart has been transformed to look like His. That is how discipline works!

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day six)

According to Solomon, discipline is the opposite of rejection and abandonment. Parents who do not discipline their children have effectively rejected them. That’s why discipline is considered loving: a parent engages their child in the moments they need them most; they draw near to them.

Discipline, when done responsively, thoughtfully, and purposefully, is the epitome of care and vulnerability.

There is no greater example of this kind of care than our heavenly Father. In our most unlovely moments, he does not turn away from us, he draws near.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day five)

To me, one of the hardest parts about parental discipline is that it is hard and slow work. After discipline is needed and given, I cannot expect my kids to be changed overnight or immediately after a time of discipline and correction. Chances are, there will be more conversations and times of discipline that follow up on the initial moments that follow wrongdoing because our kids (all of us) are prone to sin and selfish behavior. It takes constant vigilance, work, correcting, disciplining, etc. to lovingly and purposefully guide our kids to be who God calls them to be and act how God has called them to act.

But it is necessary. Often, it is tempting to take the easy way out and let things go. Essentially, we are saying that is easier for me to let things go because I don’t want to do it (because we are prone to sin and selfish behavior!). But it is in this grind-it-out, long-term-goal-in-mind where we need to keep steady.

In our personal walk with the Lord, we require daily reminders to follow Him and to do what is righteous in the sight of the Lord. We typically do not change overnight and then consistently follow Him in all we do. The Lord lovingly and purposefully guides us. This is not a “check that box of discipline” off time, but a process of being molded and shaped into who God calls us to be.

It is the same for our kids. Through proper discipline, we are helping our kids know what God has called them to do and who He has called them to be. Parents, do you love your kids? Then keep after it. There is a battle much deeper going on.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day four)

I am not a parent, but I am the child of parents who disciplined me. There were times (many times, actually) when I received discipline because it was needed. I hadn’t done the right thing and needed to be corrected. I wasn’t behaving in a way that honored God or respected others. Often, when I was being honest with myself, I knew I had done the wrong thing. While I would have never admitted it to them, I knew my parents were right to discipline me. In these moments, I experienced discipline out of love.

There were other, fewer, times that I experienced discipline out of a different motivation. Sometimes my parents were upset with each other, and by proxy this led them to be upset and harsh with me. Sometimes my parents had difficulty processing their own emotions and childhood traumas, which made them deal poorly with mine. A child can receive unhelpful discipline in the wake of a parent’s bad day. Children are perceptive, though. While I didn’t have words at the time to express it, I knew these moments of discipline were out of a poorer motivation.

Godly discipline requires us to examine our motivation. Are we modeling our discipline after the Lord’s so that our children may, “share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10)? When we engage in discipline with them, is it in an effort to make them look more like Christ? I know that when I become a parent, I will fail in this way many times. There will be moments when my flesh takes over and the discipline becomes more about me than about God. Here is a regular opportunity to say, “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30).

 

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day

“He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”

Disciplining children can be terrifying — not because you might be ineffective, but because you might be more effective than you could ever have imagined. What children learn about who they are through what is allowed or disallowed will stay with them and shape them as their years unfold. What do I have to do to gain the approval of people I love? Does my voice matter? Who can I go to for soothing when I am tormented by guilt and fear? Who can I trust? Discipline includes punishment but is not limited to it. Parents will build trust when they acknowledge to children that being a child who needs to learn about life is not a punishable offense — that learning what’s right isn’t easy.

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 13:24 (day two) He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Correcting someone can be difficult, especially if you are close to them. But the truth of this scripture bears out time and time again; we don’t do people any favors by not correcting actions, decision, or behavior that are contrary to what is good and true. The temporary discomfort caused by having to redirect or correct someone pales in comparison to allowing behaviors to go unchecked only to blow up somewhere down the line.

 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:11