Encouragement
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In my walk through this wearisome world, God has decidedly taught me a few things about discipline. For instance, trials are meant to correct us—not reject us. They are meant to build us—not kill us. To mature us—not injure us. And finally, they are meant to stretch and strengthen our faith—not crumple it into a ball like paper and toss it into the trash bin.
To be sure, our loving Father does not punish us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:10). But usually, in His wonderful way, He woos us to repentance (Romans 2:4). But when wooing won’t work, He decides on discipline. And if discipline doesn’t do the job, He must plaintively place us on a shelf, for He just can’t use our lives to count for the kingdom. Mind you, we won’t lose our salvation, but we won’t be able to give God a helping hand in accomplishing His work here in this world because we constantly complain and refuse His correction.
So, we must never think we are being punished for anything. Our punishment was born by Christ on that cross at Calvary. Yup, at times, our discipline may seem as harsh as punishment, but it isn’t punishment. And it is always tempered with God’s mercy. Just as it is written: “Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22,23).
Punishment, by the way, is for sinners who really wreck God’s day. It is also meant to point the lost and the wicked to the Person who created them—it is not meant to destroy them. It is meant to get them to fear Him, which believers already do. Hence, we need no punishment.
Discipline, on the other hand, is to make us into better people. As it is written, God scourges every son (or daughter) He receives (Hebrews 12:5-10). Why? Because He is carving our characters to conform them into the same character of His Son—Jesus Christ. And with God, character is one of the highest objectives He has for us. Nope, He doesn’t want to make clones of Christ out of us, for God loves our unique personalities, our sense of humour, our personal desires—even our petty quirks. That’s right. But what God does want for us is character conformed to Christ’s character. That’s it, my faithful friends. And God will steadily hammer away at our hearts until He has accomplished this holy undertaking; yup, chiselling away at the character of our inner man (or woman) until He receives His own reflection when He gazes upon us.
So, the next time we experience a spiritual spanking, let’s remember that it is because God dotes on us that He is disciplining us, and that He knows we will have to live with our characters for all of eternity. Oh, I know what you’re thinking—Discipline sucks at times. True. But really, we aren’t born with true character. And God isn’t going to miraculously wave His hand over us and turn us into robots with character. Nope. Character comes through experience…yes, through blood, sweat and tears, to borrow a common cliché. So, nope: Character can’t be created. It is something one matures into through suffering, persevering, and keeping the faith in the one who will always come through for us in the end (Romans 5:3,4/Romans 8:28).
Yup, discipline is meant to forge in us the same goodness God possesses. As it is written: “Now no chastening seems joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). So, let’s just go with the flow when God has us in tow. And if our discipline seems dastardly too harsh, we must also remember God never gives us more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13); and again, He will always temper that discipline with diligent mercy, because He is simply head over heels in love with us.
Yup, He will break our wills at times through discipline, but He will never, ever, break our spirits, for it is our spirits He is conforming to the character of Christ (Romans 8:29). What He wants is to renew us, not chew us and spit us out. It is also true God will never break our hearts, for our hearts are where He has made His home. And God loves His happy home.
And in that vein, we shouldn’t always pray for God to deliver us or others from dire trials He has allowed or even sent our way, either. Nope. What we should do is pray God to help us or them through such sufferings, for they are God’s goodness at work in us. Yup, God uses trials to appeal to our attention to correct us about something, or to create in us Christ-like character. And yup, trials do come to pass, just like scary storms; and when they do, and when the sun finally floods that former hole in our hearts God has fixed through discipline, we will be the better off for having endured such storms in earnest patience.
So, let’s not fret when the Father of mercy and God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3) corrects us, for it surely doesn’t mean He rejects us. It means He is crazy in love with us and is extremely excited to make us more like our Maker, in whose image we were created in the first place. Yup, He is merely trying to restore that image in us. And it is that image we lost when Adam and Eve fell from grace by feasting on that forbidden fruit which resulted in the crumpling of everybody’s character who came after them.
And our Almighty Father…Papa…Daddy…whatever we call Him…will accomplish this in His way, in His strength, and in His timing. Through discipline. All we must do is cooperate with our Creator while He does His thing. And when He has done His thing, I assure you, our hearts will sing!
Blessings…
All Scriptural references taken from the NKJV Bible 1985.
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