Don’t forget your jacket!  Don’t forget your backpack! Did you get your lunch?  Did you put those papers I signed into your backpack?  Don’t forget to take them out and give to the teacher!  Be safe!  Watch out for the mud puddles! Please walk around them not through them!  Be kind when you get on the bus!  Be careful!  Help your brother and sister!  Have great day at school!  Listen to the teacher!  I love you!!  See you later!

These are just a few of the last minute instructions we say as loving parents to our children as they grow from toddlers to adolescents. The words change as they go off to college or a new job and as they marry and form their own families; but the love behind the words only grows stronger!  We love them dearly and care enough to help them. This is discipline.

Be safe and don’t forget I love you!  We teach our children and their children the discipline that God teaches us which is built on an unwavering foundation of the love God has for us.  All the commands of God are built on this rock-solid foundation of His love for us. In fact, God so loved us He sent His Son to save us from ourselves and the evil behind our sins of not following in His ways that will do consequential harm to us.  Jesus brought us out of the bondage of sin once and for all—don’t forget!  There is nothing we can do to change who God is and what He has done for us.  His love never changes.  He is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him.  There is no one like our God!

As a public school teacher, I have seen the results of kids whose parents did not care enough to ask these loving questions of carer that led to a disciplined life in their development.  They did not follow up with meeting the real needs of their kids which provided security.  Some parents were still kids themselves as they were not lovingly disciplined either.  The lack of a disciplined life showed in their behaviors which broke my heart—and breaks the heart of God.

Uncared for kids are insecure which instilled deep fear.  Fear is displayed in a student in many ways.  Fear can drive some kids to hide in a corner and shy away from others.  Some will act out and act tough from fear.  They will attempt to take control of all situations before what they feel takes control of them.  But what God’s Word teaches me as a parent, teacher, and follower of Jesus is this: “Love drives out all fear.” 

Our loving Father God tells Moses to tell God’s people: Don’t forget who loves you most and cares enough to discipline you in a way of life that demonstrates my love for you and through you to each other— “so all will go well with you!”  A disciplined life is a life of preparation for what God wants to do in and through us for our good and His glory!  It is a life of knowing God will meet our every need through all circumstance and will always be with us.  It is realizing that God knows our hearts.  It is also knowing that God wants us to know His heart!  The more we know the heart of God the more we become like Him as we bear His image to a broken world.

Therefore, don’t forget—love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul!  His love in our hearts will be displayed in our behaviors. Our real love for God is demonstrated in our obedience to Him.  Live a discipline life of seeking the Father!

Deuteronomy 8

Do Not Forget the Lord

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ²⁰ Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

From experience, seeking God and His wisdom far outweighs my own foolish attempts at doing life on my own.  If I want to live a life of significance, substance, and real meaning—I must begin each day with the discipline of seeking God first before doing anything else.  I’ve tried skipping this discipline and it does not go well with me!

God desires to be with us in all the details of life!  God wants to help us through good times and challenging times that test our faith in Him.  God’s love is not as much about punishment as it is about the discipline of willing, loving, surrendered obedience to Him for our own good which gives Him glory!  God even delights in singing over us when we sleep with songs of rejoicing! Who wants God’s song in the night?  I do!

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23

“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” 1 John 4:18

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

This relentless love of God is for ALL who believe, love Him back, and follow Him.  Jesus demonstrated God’s love before, during and after His work on the cross to redeem us.  We love Him because He first loved us.  We love the Father who disciplines us by His love—The One and Only who rescued us, met our real need for Him in all kinds of ways, and cares for us daily.

Peter, the Rock upon whom Jesus built His church, the same Peter who had faith lessons to learn, teaches us what Jesus taught Him as He disciplined and prepared Peter for a life of yielding to God the Father.  Here are Peter’s words as given to him by God’s Holy Spirit who led him…

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:5-11, NIV

All for our good and His glory!  May we never forget what Jesus did for us so we could come boldly to God, our Father.

Lord,

Thank you for all you are and all you have provided, are providing and will always provide so that we may know you more each day.  Thank you for teaching us how to follow in ways that help us see your glory at work daily. Thank you for being in all the details of our lives.  Thank you for your complete forgiveness of our sins that cleanse our hearts. Thank you for renewing our minds with your higher way of thinking. Thank you for transform our behaviors as we humbly surrender to your disciplines of living life well. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your passionate understanding and loving, ever-faithful kindness to us. Thank you for always being with us and never letting go of us.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.  I’m yours. By your power living in me, help me to love like you love us.

In Jesus Name, Amen