“Now, This May Hurt”

HAVE you ever heard those words? Perhaps a doctor or a nurse said them before administering a recommended treatment.

Likely, you did not refuse to submit to the treatment simply to avoid the anticipated pain. Rather, you endured the pain in order to reap future healthful benefits. In extreme cases, acceptance or rejection of uncomfortable treatment could be a matter of life and death.

Although we may not always require the attention of a medical practitioner, all of us as imperfect humans cannot do without discipline, or correction, even that which, at times, may be painful. (Jeremiah 10:23) Emphasizing this need on the part of children, the Bible says: “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy; the rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him.”—Proverbs 22:15.

The rod, in this instance, is a symbol of parental authority. It is true that few children like discipline. If it involves punishment of some sort, they may resent it. However, wise and loving parents look beyond the child’s hurt feelings to the eventual gain. Christian parents know that God’s Word is true when it says: “No discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.”—Hebrews 12:11; Proverbs 13:24.

Of course, children are not alone in needing discipline. Adults need it too. The Bible is speaking to adults when it says: “Take hold on discipline; do not let go. Safeguard it, for it itself is your life.” (Proverbs 4:13) Yes, wise persons—young and old—will embrace discipline based on God’s Word, the Bible, because doing so will, in the long run, preserve their life.