Higher Calling

Throughout my adolescence, I got in trouble for things that others did not. If there were several students talking in class, I was the one called out for it. If a group of us were tardy, I was the one to get detention. I watched others cheat on tests, and the one time I tried, I got caught. If I talked back, I was immediately in trouble, while I watched other students get away with far worse behavior.

This pattern of seemingly always getting in trouble for things that others didn’t followed me into adulthood. I would watch other coaches yell at their athletes, but if I so much as raised my voice an ounce, a parent e-mail was sure to be waiting for me in my inbox. I have watched other teachers break all kinds of rules, but if I so much as think about breaking a rule, I’d be admonished. It has affected me in a way where I am careful to watch myself—my tone, my words, my actions.

As I’ve raised my two daughters, they have gone through the same thing I did—they continually were held to a higher standard of behavior throughout their childhood and teenage years.

My mom would tell me that as a child of God, I am held to a higher standard than others. That, she said, is why God would never allow me to get away with sin. Hebrews 12:6 tells us that “The Lord disciplines the one He loves.” As a child, it was hard for me to see—because it felt like I was being singled out; it felt like I was unfairly targeted. However, now that I have children of my own, I realize that was never the case.

I love my own children too much to allow them to remain in sin. If my daughters lie, disrespect people, mistreat others, or begin making destructive choices, I cannot simply ignore it and call that love. Real love corrects. Real love disciplines. Real love cares too much about the future of a person to remain passive while they continue down the wrong path. How much more does our heavenly Father love us? If I, as an imperfect parent, care enough to correct my children, then how could a perfect God ever allow His children to comfortably remain in sin without conviction or discipline?

For years, I watched people who seemed to get away with everything, and I hated how they could go unpunished while I couldn’t. I thought that a lack of consequences meant they had freedom. I thought that it was unfair that I received constant correction. Looking back now, I realize I had it backwards. Scripture never presents unchecked sin as a blessing. In fact, one of the most frightening things God can do is allow a person to continually harden themselves without correction, conviction, or discipline. Psalm 81:11-12 says, “But my people did not listen to my voice… So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.”

God’s discipline is uncomfortable, but it is also evidence of relationship. Discipline means He has not abandoned us to ourselves.

Hebrews 12 goes on to say, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” I am a true testament to that. I hated the discipline I received at the time, but now I can look back and see God’s hand on my life, directing me, correcting me, and refusing to let me comfortably become someone I was never meant to be.

So when I have to correct my children, or when I get corrected for my own behavior, I have to be able to see that it is God’s protection on my life. I have a higher calling on my life—one that is to honor and glorify God. I must be able to receive correction, because how can I become more Christ-like if I don’t?