“You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline? Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [or God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].” (Hebrews 12: 7-8, Amplified Bible)

The nature of God’s love for us includes some necessary correction. We can’t go along doing the wrong thing, thinking or acting out of line with what is the highest right, and expect to get away with it. This is not punishment. It is your Father’s great love for you being expressed.

So we should not be ashamed when this disciplining comes, these various wake-up calls, both gentle and strong. The correcting comes because we are children of the divine One, and this Parent wants us to be well, happy, successful, wise. This Parent wants us to feel fully and express freely the very substance of what She knows is so right and healing. We are being taught about true Love by the greatest expert on this subject–divine Love itself.

Listen and receive this chiding without self-justification or self-pity, and also without fear. God shows us what we are doing wrong so we can give it up for the better way. He isn’t holding it against us. He is, just as a father, instructing us out of our ignorance and showing us not only how to be better, but why being better is really just being our true selves as sons and daughters of God. And this natural selfhood is so freeing, healing, and satisfying.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.