Hebrews 12

Teaching the Jews, Paul compares our relationship with our Heavenly Father to that of our earthly father -

"...despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees..."  (Hebrews 12:5–12)

Several points of doctrine:

• If we are chastened, we are loved so much that He wants us to live eternally with Him.
• Our Father is Heaven is the father of our spirits.  Thus we lived with Heavenly Parents before we came to earth.
• To avoid chastisement, we have an obligation to minister to others.