"...You discipline the one's You love"

Something I've come to do a lot more when I'm singing / prepping to lead worship, is trying to really think through the words and what they mean. This generally has four responses after looking through:

1. Yep, I agree with that
2. Oh wow, I never realised that or thought about it like that before!
3. Do I actually believe this, or
4. That is completely wrong - why is it in there?

I find that I will occasionally stop singing if I think some of the more negative things, otherwise I begin just going with a flow that is against my own belief system, or against some of the doctrine I've thought about.

In one recent song, the following line appears, "With the blessing of Your Father's heart, You discipline the ones you love. There's kindness in Your majesty." - Do I actually believe this?

In our lectures at college at the moment, we are looking at the theme 'Faith & Justice', and the theme of God's discipline came up. It's been a really helpful module so far, and hopefully will continue to be! It got me thinking - do we, as humans, have a squewed understanding of the word 'discipline'? Many people, I would think, would immediately think of a good smack bottom, or being grounded. If this is the true meaning of the word discipline, then of course I don't for one minute believe that Jesus disciplines us with the Father's blessing. If, however, we think of the word 'discipline' as a way of concentrating our efforts onto ways of focussing more on God, such as prayer, Bible study, sung worship, etc. then it can put a whole new meaning on this word. I can't think how to word it better at the moment so will end it here!