In Hebrew 12 it is spelled out what God does for those He loves if He has accepted you to be His child. In verse six it states that God so loves you that he discipline you and he flogs you. This is one of those concepts that many chose not to acknowledge or hear.
Chasten – 1 (Of a reproof or misfortune) have a restraining or moderating effect on (as adjective chastening) a chastening experience
1.1 archaic (Especially of God) discipline; punish.
They take the first part of the verse that God loves them and then ignores the rest. They also ignore the verse above this:
Hebrews 12: 4 – Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Why mention this and then two verse later mention that God so loves you that He disciplines and spanks you? It is answered in the next verses:
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
So if God is disciplining and spanking you because He has accepted you what is it he is doing this for? That is simple it is stated in the fourth verse: sin. This is why it is important to read the entire Bible, which most have not done. It is also important to read the book of Leviticus for within that book is everything God calls “sin.”
As you can see in the verses above the reason for these punishments is made clear. Verse eight is a startling statement and it is one that many need to read and think upon. For if you live in what is called a sin within the Bible and do not suffer punishment for it then God considers those to be “bastards, and not sons.”
Do you get the meaning of that? Do you get to understand what that means? God loves his children and so disciplines and spanks them, but if you flauntingly live in sin, any sin, and are not punished by God are you really His child?
Now I can tell you I have felt the discipline of God and I have been flogged by God. I know the pain and anguish that goes with it, but we are promised in verse eleven that in the end we will be seen as righteous and we will be considered a true child of God. These are not just words in a book. I have been through these very things. I have experienced them on a personal level. This is real. So God’s love is real, and if He loves you He will put you through some rough times. Why? To remove sin from you, for He know that even though we have asked His Son into our lives we still commit some sins, but the goal is to remove all sin. Starting with the worst sin first and the minor sins last. It doesn’t work the other way around where the minor sins are first and the major last.
So if you live a life that has what the Bible calls to be a major sin, and you feel no discipline or spanking from God to remove this sin from your life, then are really just a bastard, a pretender, a hypocrite? Only you can answer that.