If you have been a reader of this blog for even just a few short weeks you will know that I am doing a study of the book of Hebrews in my personal Bible study time. I MAY BE STUDYING HEBREWS TILL JESUS RETURNS!! This is a much larger undertaking that I had imagined and I am really just doing a very surface level study to be honest with you. One of my commentaries is sooooo indepth and scholarly and it is just killing me. Good grief, I am a blonde underneath this Miss Clairol!! It is way over my head, but I persevere!!
Ok, enough of my whining. I am currently in chapter 12 and I have sensed for a few days that the Lord wanted me to write something from this chapter but I have tried to avoid it because I cannot imagine it being something joyful and funny, not that my posts are typically joyful or funny. HOWEVER, I cannot avoid it any longer so let’s dive right in knowing that this may require a couple of posts.
The passage that is kicking my tushie deals with the discipline of God and is found in Hebrews 12: 3-11. Let’s read it:
“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
First let me address this from a big picture perspective. I believe, with all my heart, that as a nation we are experiencing ourselves some major discipline from God. Economically, financially, politically and in just about every other way, we have become slaves to the almighty dollar. As a nation, we have spent and spent with total abandon. Now, I know that many of you are fiscally very responsible. I am simply making a general observation about our country as a whole. A large percentage of people live on credit and way above their means in order to purchase things that are not necessities. I heard Chuck Bentley from Crown Financial Ministries say on a recent radio program that our families have gotten smaller and our homes have gotten larger over the past 50 years or so. We have pandered to the gods of money, power, success, toys, and status for many years and I believe that God is allowing the current economic mess to STRONGLY ENCOURAGE us to ‘straighten up and fly right’ as my mother used to say.
So, let’s not make light of the Lord’s discipline and let’s not lose heart. As we see hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs and homes (perhaps you are one of those—if you are, I am so very, very sorry—my heart breaks for you), let us, as the children of God, be faithful to pray always, help others sacrificially, and make sure that our hearts are rightly situated toward money and possessions. I believe that Christians can be a magnificent testimony of trust and faith in God during these troubled times. God is using and will use our current economic woes to strengthen His people because God disciplines us for our good. Let us learn the lesson that He is teaching quickly!!
