God is speaking to you now as a son. He says, "...My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son" (Hebrews 12:5–6 NIV). This is beautiful. Don't make light of the Lord's discipline. What is He calling discipline? It is spiritual training.
The Passion Translation put it beautifully when it said, "For the Lord's training of your life is the evidence of his faithful love. And when he draws you to himself, it proves you are his delightful child" (Hebrews 12:6 TPT). Don't take the training you are receiving for granted.
He warns you because it is possible to take other things more seriously than the training you are receiving in church. That is why He repeats it—"don't make light of the Lord's discipline. And do not lose heart when you are rebuked by Him" (Hebrews 12:5 SBA).
There are two clear instructions here. First, don't take for granted or belittle the training you are receiving. In other words, don't treat spiritual training with levity. Secondly, don't give up. Don't say the training is too hard and walk away. Don't say, "Ahnahn, the demand is too much now—fasting again, all-night prayer again". God says, don't quit. Don't walk out when you are corrected. Why? Because "...the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son" (Hebrews 12:6 NIV).
Does that make sense to you? How many of you grew up with your father at home—or at least had a father figure? When you were growing up, did your father discipline you when you misbehaved? And when he corrected you, was he disciplining your neighbour's children the same way? No. Were the neighbour's children misbehaving? Yes. But your father did nothing to them because they were not his responsibility.
That is exactly how God operates. He only disciplines His sons. The Bible explains this clearly when it says, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?" (Hebrews 12:7 NIV). If there is no discipline, no correction, no training, then there is no sonship.
The Bible went further to say "If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all" (Hebrews 12:8 NIV). Anyone who escapes discipline entirely, they are not a legitimate child. But God does not treat you as illegitimate. He trains you because you belong to Him.
The Bible says, "…the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes" (Hebrews 12:6 AMPC). God's correction is not rejection. It is training. It is love in action. So fully embrace God's discipline. Don't resist it. Don't despise it. Don't abandon the process. Spiritual training is shaping you into maturity, strength, and true sonship. Every rebuke is proof that God is invested in your growth.