When the going gets tough, the tough buy books. That's why, after a rough Monday, I bought a new version of Amy Knapp's Family Organizer. I bought my first one last year and have thoroughly enjoyed the layout as well as the perforated sections that make great grocery lists and bookmarks. This year, I decided to buy the "Christian" family organizer. (Which makes me ask if there's a pagan one, but that's another post for another day.)
As I was transferring data, I came across the verse for the week of September 30:
Endure hardships as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, I'm trying to make a connection between bad things and "discipline," but we were also taught that it rains on the just and the unjust. So, is there a way to think that "hardships" are a way of discipline, or does that veer too closely to an idea of an angry Old Testament God who smites the wicked? (That can be a rhetorical question, BTW.)
If you have a thought, feel free to express it. I'll be back to something less than philosophical tomorrow. : )
I love philosophical. :) Imo, hardships can be discipline, but not always. And if people think of others' hardships that way, that can lead to some very bad, uncharitable thinking. The thing is, the people who really need disciplining generally don't think they do. (I'm thinking of someone I know who treats his wife badly and thinks he's just fine.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for making me think, Sally.
Linsey, this is exactly what I'm thinking. It comes down to something we were talking about in Sunday School where there were a few people who wanted to extend "black and white" to everyone. I think we can sometimes make things "black and white" for ourselves, but not for others. Similarly, if we can learn from our own hardships, then we have been disciplined. You're absolutely right when you say that the problem comes from seeing the hardships of others as a form of consequence.
ReplyDelete