5. You are children of God, and he speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words: “My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing, and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6. The Lord disciplines everyone he loves; he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” Proverbs 3:11-12
7. So accept sufferings like a father’s discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all children are disciplined by their fathers.
8. So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God.
9. We have all had fathers here on earth who corrected us with discipline. And we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life.
10. Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us so that we can be holy like him.
11. We don’t enjoy discipline when we get it. It is painful. But later, after we have learned our lesson from it, we will enjoy the peace that comes from doing what is right.
12. You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again.
13. Live in the right way so that you will be saved and your weakness will not cause you to be lost.
14. Try to live in peace with everyone. And try to keep your lives free from sin. Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord.
15. Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group.
16. Be careful that no one commits sexual sin. And be careful that no one is like Esau and never thinks about God. As the oldest son, Esau would have inherited everything from his father. But he sold all that for a single meal.
17. You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing. He wanted that blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing, because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.
18. You have not come to a place that can be seen and touched, like the mountain the people of Israel saw, which was burning with fire and covered with darkness, gloom, and storms.
19. There is no sound of a trumpet or a voice speaking words like those they heard. When they heard the voice, they begged never to hear another word.