Our reading today will focus on Hebrews 12:4-13, and we will discuss our reactions to God's discipline.
Don't we each react differently to God's discipline in our lives? I think about how my two children were different when it came to discipline. One of my children would burst into tears with a stern look from a parent. The other child thought being spanked with a wooden spoon was a game and would try to catch the spoon. While spankings didn't work for this child, being isolated did, because that was the worst punishment imaginable. Think about the ways God is trying to discipline you. Are you submitting to His guidance, or are you bowing your back and digging in your hills in defiance? The pastor we had while my husband was in seminary would talk about the "classroom of adversity." Do you find yourself repeatedly in adversity? Ask God what He wants you to learn, because you only want to go through that lesson once, my friend!
Let's not grumble against discipline. Let's see it as God's love for us. His desire is to conform you to the likeness of His Son. Stop resisting his correction. When the Spirit convicts you of sin, immediately agree with Him, and get back on track. Stop beating yourself up for it. That only delays the healing. One of my favorite books is about a girl named Much Afraid. She is crippled and lame, but she agrees to follow the Good Shepherd to the High Places. On the journey she finds healing when she obeys the voice of the One who loves her. And in the end, she receives a new name! That's what I want for you, my friend.
Do we sometimes use the excuse, "I really struggle with sin," simply to justify our sin rather than to get honest with ourselves about our stubbornness? When we say we struggle, do we mean sin is hard to resist, or do we mean we put on our spiritual armor every day and actually go to battle against temptation? The truth is spelled out for us in Hebrews 12:4, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." Until we allow God to break our hearts over our sin, we will continue to wallow in it.
Don't we each react differently to God's discipline in our lives? I think about how my two children were different when it came to discipline. One of my children would burst into tears with a stern look from a parent. The other child thought being spanked with a wooden spoon was a game and would try to catch the spoon. While spankings didn't work for this child, being isolated did, because that was the worst punishment imaginable. Think about the ways God is trying to discipline you. Are you submitting to His guidance, or are you bowing your back and digging in your hills in defiance? The pastor we had while my husband was in seminary would talk about the "classroom of adversity." Do you find yourself repeatedly in adversity? Ask God what He wants you to learn, because you only want to go through that lesson once, my friend!
Let's not grumble against discipline. Let's see it as God's love for us. His desire is to conform you to the likeness of His Son. Stop resisting his correction. When the Spirit convicts you of sin, immediately agree with Him, and get back on track. Stop beating yourself up for it. That only delays the healing. One of my favorite books is about a girl named Much Afraid. She is crippled and lame, but she agrees to follow the Good Shepherd to the High Places. On the journey she finds healing when she obeys the voice of the One who loves her. And in the end, she receives a new name! That's what I want for you, my friend.
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