"You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.'Effective parents don’t chasten before they instruct, nor do they punish before an infraction. Expectations are communicated first, then behavior is monitored for compliance.
"It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
"Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."Hebrews 12:4-11
If the results are unacceptable, they explain the transgression and attempt to correct the child’s understanding and behavior; reinforcing the desired results until comprehension is achieved. Periodic evaluation follows.
God is no different … all committed believers have learned from God in this way. “When much is given, much is expected.”
Showing posts with label Chastisement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chastisement. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
DISCIPLINE: If indeed I am your child!
REVIVAL: The people's gospel stew!
LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.Revival is like putting last night's stew on the stove. What you have is something which was real good yesterday but has been in the refrigerator since. Now it’s cold, thick, chunky and feels too heavy to eat.Habakkuk 3:2
First, the flame from the burner begins to chase away the chill. Then the stew begins to lose its lethargy and starts to warm and thin. Soon, with some stirring, it becomes a warm, fluid, consistent source of nourishment and strength, as it was intended to be.
Churches are like that. Our faith is like that. Once in awhile God needs to put us on the stove of chastisement and stir us up, so we’ll be as we are intended to be.
Stephan Olford defines revival as “the sovereign act of God, in which He restores His own backsliding people to repentance, faith, and obedience.”
DISCIPLESHIP: A tight grip on our leashes!
We live in an area where we’re not allowed to walk our dogs. In order to give my little critter some exercise, I must walk outside our immediate area about one hundred yards. Of course, I don’t need the exercise, being a virtual clone of Arnold (Tom Arnold, that is).
On an evening a few nights ago we were walking along as free as can be when my hound made a sudden and surprising turn. As quick as you can say, “Spitz Spah,” he grabbed something with his mouth.
Now, I’m a dog owner from way back and I know you can’t allow your animals to pick up just anything they want. Not if you want to keep them healthy, let alone alive.
“Drop that!” I yelled, accompanying the command with a sharp jerk on the leash. Being a very obedient dog, in fear for his life and of his all powerful master, the object was ejected and my dog was dejected.
I’ve prided myself on having excellent relationships with my animals. And voice commands are one reason why. This time I was doubly glad. The object he was about to consume was a bloated animal stomach; a leftover from some local carnivore’s recent meal. These are notorious sources of parasites and poisons … not at all good for the animal, no matter what his instincts tell him.
Christians are a lot like this and God finds it necessary to keep a tight grip on our leashes.
Too often our instincts tell something smells good, feels good, looks good or sounds good but God (being a human owner from way back) says, “Drop that!” Like my dog, we’re dejected when we hear the command because we don’t want to upset God. But too many times the object of our affection is not ejected!
That’s usually when we feel the sharp jerk on our leash, the choker chain tightens and we’re compelled to consider the will of our Almighty God. But, sadly, even then, Christians are unlike my dog; many persist in holding on to horrible vessels of spiritual parasites and poisons.
God is not like me, however; where I would forcibly remove the dangerous object from my pet’s mouth, God rarely intervenes at that level. Rather, He allows us choice as well as consequence; but far too many believers are making bad choices and suffering painful consequences.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
DISCIPLINE - What the student is supposed to learn!
GENTLE PERSUASION! [Hebrews 12:7, 8 (9-13); other topics - body (Church), chastisement, surrender]
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
In order to blend eggs by hand, the eggs are broken into a bowl designed for that purpose. The cook then takes a wire whip and aggressively whips the eggs. More often than not one egg yolk will refuse to cooperate; the cook must stop the whipping and deliberately break the obstinate yolk.
God desires the body of Christ be a blended whole; He desires each of His children have “a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart.” [Psalm 51:17]
Chastisement (discipline) is never a pleasant thing. But God desires each child work, properly and supplying the essence of who he or she is according to his or her gifts. This causes “the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” [Ephesians 4:16]
Predictably, one member won’t break under the gentle persuasion of the Lord; in such a case, breaking is called for.
How wonderful it would be if we could all fear God, yet not fear the strengthening process of His discipline.
IN FULL UNIFORM! [Ephesians 6:13; Armor (of God), Discipleship, Preparation, Sanctification]
Somehow, the young man found himself standing directly in the path of an oncoming car, the driver hit her brakes; but before either of them could do anything it seemed the ten-year-old was shoulder deep in the windshield of the automobile. “Are you alright,” asked the driver. From inside the football helmet a squeaky voice responded, “I think so!”
The boy, a participant in Pop Warner Football, was on his way home from practice, in full uniform. The driver saw the boy too late to stop; the boy saw the car too late to get out of the way.
It is unnecessary to explain why we are admonished to ...“take up the full armor of God, that [we] may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”Much like the ubiquitous seat belt, the armor of God is, for the most part, unused by believers today. And yet the devil, that self-centered maniac who drives blind, loves to plow through unprotected children on the King’s highway.
God has provided the armor; but He has left it to us to put it on, one piece at a time. Why we don’t is a mystery. Perhaps it’s “won’t” rather than “don’t.” Perhaps the devil is not the only creature that’s self-centered.
JESSE WHO? [Matthew 10:26; Body life, Commitment, Consecration, Holiness, Righteousness]
Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
Thomas Firbank, in I Bought A Star, tells of a conversation he had with a formula race driver; he asked the professional why he took time to paint and polish the undercarriage as well as all of the other unseen parts of his race car. The driver responded, “If the metal is spotlessly clean, I can see at once if there is a flaw.”
The church needs to adopt this attitude; sanding, grinding, buffing, prepping, painting, and polishing every unseen part. Not so God can “see at once if there is a flaw,” nothing is hidden from His sight [Hebrews 4:13] ... so that we can see our own flaws.
Holiness is from God but the holiness of the saints is not; that responsibility rests wholly on our shoulders!
Soldiers are taught field discipline during peacetime, in the barracks. Polished boots and buckles, along with carefully folded underwear, are not needed during peacetime, nor are they essential for barracks’ life. This discipline is for the field during wartime. In the field, attention to detail IS essential … it cannot be learned under stress, nor is there time to do so! Every boot camp Drill Instructor knows this!
Every army knows (or quickly learns) it is a malicious policy which says during training, “We need not bother the men with the details; they’ll pick them up as they need them in the field.”
Too frequently today we are witnessing an undisciplined demeanor among “the saints”; worse, we are seeing it promoted by many of their instructors.
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