Tough Love

Real love can be expressed in many ways. It isn’t loving not to warn a person when they are in danger. And it’s not loving to avoid giving a person correction when, without correction, they would be heading for trouble!

I loved my Dad – but I also had a healthy respect for him! He was incredibly loving and amazingly generous , but he was also firm, but fair, when it came to the need for bringing some needed correction into my life. I learnt to recognise that Dad’s love could sometimes hurt – at least for a season – but it was the sort of ‘hurt’ that I knew was for my own good, even if I didn’t like it at the time. A loving and disciplined environment made for an amazingly secure and safe family in which to grow up. I was very blessed. And even today I know I am being blessed by the straight edge of godly order that he helped establish in my life.

Now, if a human Dad, who is not perfect and sometimes acts without full understanding of everything that’s going on, can be the source of such blessing, how much more can we expect our heavenly Dad to be a loving Father – a Father who has both perfect understanding and insight into our lives, and cares for us enough to want to teach us truth from His Word?

We may have to go through some tough times when we get it wrong, but a mature believer will welcome those times of discipline from the Lord, for we can know for sure that God has no other objective but to bring us back to a place of blessing. What He teaches us from His Word is TRUTH – and when we choose to walk in His ways we will have LIFE – abundant life and real blessing.

Prayer: Lord,. I choose to welcome Your discipline in my life. Help me to see with Your eyes the things that need to change and I ask that you will bring to me the blessing of Your correction – now and always. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.