Training

"Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."  Hebrews 12:11 KJV

How many of you had training wheels on your two wheeler when you were little? I did too. Would you want to give your 5 or 6 year old a two wheel bike – no training wheels – and just tell them to go ahead & ride it? Of course not! They need to learn how to ride it and the training wheels will do just that – train them how. With enough practice, they will learn how to ride and then won’t need the training wheels anymore.

Parents and teachers and other adults train us in many ways. They help us learn to ride that two wheeler, how to cross the street safely or how to use the stove properly so we won’t get hurt. They also train our character. Other than the Lord, no one knows us as well as our parents. They know our strengths and weaknesses and God has commanded them to train up their children in the way they should go, i.e. the right way.

This Bible verse from Hebrews 12:11 tells us that chastening, or discipline, and the training that goes with it, is not at the moment joyful, but it can be painful. But later, if we listen to our parents and learn from their training, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. If we hearken to our parent’s training, we will grow in wisdom and please the Lord.

What happens to a child who has never ridden a two wheeler, but thinks they can do it, so they jump on & try to ride? They’re likely to crash pretty quickly. The training wheels would have helped prevent them from getting hurt. The training wheels are there for their own good, to help them until they practice enough that they learn how to ride on their own.

Character training is much the same way. Perhaps our parents see that we are weak in an area; for example perhaps we are not diligent. Our parents notice that we start projects but we are not diligent to finish them, or we give just a half-hearted effort to things they ask us to do. It is their responsibility before God to train us in this area. They will have to show us this weak area in our character and correct us. They may need to establish some rules for us, or put a chart on the wall to remind us. They may have us memorize Bible verses about diligence. They may even need to take away a privilege. None of this is pleasant, but they are giving us our “training wheels” that will help us grow to be more like Jesus.

You know how exhilarating it feels to finally have the training wheels taken off your bike and you can go off riding well now on a two wheeler. When we overcome a character weakness, we also have a feeling of joy (the peaceable fruit of righteousness) because we know we are pleasing the Lord as well as our parents.

So let’s always accept correction and learn from it and know that this is like “training wheels” to help us.


 

Copyright, 2007, Laurie Latour.  www.FutureChristianHomemakers.com

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