Proverbs 6:23 For the commandments are like a lamp, Instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life.
The Bible is so honest about discipline – no one enjoys it. Discipline and correction are abrasive to our wayward souls and we are easily deceived into abandoning the words that would lead us to life.
Then you will say, “How I hated discipline! My heart spurned reproof! I did not obey my teachers. I did not heed my instructors, so I nearly came to complete ruin. (Proverbs 5:12-14)
Reproof isn’t easy, but it produces great fruit in the lives of those who allow it to train them. One thing I see as a problem in modern Christianity is that many believers have grown up knowing parts of the message of salvation, but nothing about discipline and correction. Many seem to feel they have a right to live in selfishness, under the grace of Jesus Christ. This disconnected message of grace, cut off from the roots of discipline, grows quickly, yet produces no fruit. The description of Jesus, giving Him a name above all names, is that He obeyed His Father … even unto death. Obedience to righteous ways is a foreign idea to many who say they are His own.
My child, guard the commands of your father and do not forsake the instructions of your mother. Bind them on your heart continually; fasten them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake, they will teach you. For the commandments are like a lamp, instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life. (Proverbs 6:20-23)