Barb and I never wanted our
kids’ past failures to define them. We wanted them to recognize their problems,
confess their sin, change their direction or behavior, and wake up to a brand
new tomorrow without something hanging over their heads. That’s why we didn’t
do a lot of grounding or long-term punishment that went on for days, weeks or
months. If my parents took the grounding approach to my sinful behavior then I
would still be in my room not eating dessert – and they sold our house two
years ago!
God is a perfect Father and
knows exactly what we need to grow us spiritually. The Bible promises that He
will discipline His unruly child.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary
when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises
every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:5-6).
Discipline is a sign of
relationship. God will only discipline His own children with a trajectory
toward conformity to the holy character of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. He
has a prefect goal with His perfect discipline.
But what about when we suffer and
didn’t do anything wrong? For example, what about Job? Even Job eventually
realized that God’s “secret” workings were not arbitrary and capricious. In the
middle of trying to figure out what in the world was going on in his life Job
declared,
“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come
out as gold” (Job 23:10).
That is pain with a purpose. God
is in control of the good and the bad in our lives. It is our responsibility to
submit to His good plan and rest assured that His moment-by-moment grace will
be sufficient during our weakness. God doesn’t want our past failures to define
us. He desires us to repentant of sin and move into a brand new tomorrow
experiencing His mercy. He is a perfect Father and knows exactly how to get us
to this point. So, what’s holding you back from obedience to the heavenly
Father?
Grace & Peace,
Scott
.jpg)
We’ve all said things we wish we
hadn’t said. That’s just an axiom of life. It’s not an excuse to go on saying
dumb, hurtful, and self-justifying things; it’s a fact of life because we are
human and imperfect. Hopefully we are growing to learn to guard our tongues.
Our words usually hurt those
with whom we are closest. This is due to the fact that with these people we are
on familiar and comfortable ground and our guard is down. We know they will get
over it and forgive us. But then the day comes when they don’t, and we are left
with a relational and emotional landscape that looks like the beaches of
Normandy in 1944. We are at war! The outcome is not going to be pretty. Even
with the right help we will end up approaching that relationship with
trepidation because of the verbal landmines that have been left behind.
However, there is hope. The
first step we need to take is repentance. That
means we are going to search the depths of our hearts and ask God to show us
where we have sinned. We are not going to do an inventory of someone else’s
heart, only our own. We are going to own up to our sin, agree with God that it
is sin against Him and His child, and go in the opposite direction.
The next step is to approach
that person with humble admission. We must be willing
to accept that we were wrong and hurtful. At this point the intent of our heart
should not be to just move on but to get the relationship back on the rails.
With the right heart attitude we will communicate a desire to do the hard
things and work diligently at removing the landmines one at a time. This will
be messy and time consuming, but it will be necessary and, in the end,
beautiful.
This is a hard lesson to learn
and that is why so much Scripture addresses it. Both the Old and New Testaments
deal with it, and so it is imperative that we deal with it as well. Solomon
wrote, for the good of the nation of Israel, and ultimately for our benefit as
well:
From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of
the treacherous is for violence. (Proverbs 13:2)
“…The mouth is a tree that
produces fruits that it has to eat. Language is not neutral, not sterile; it
initiates a process that will come back to its origin…” (L. Alonso Schökel).
We must learn to be careful what
we say because we will end up eating our words.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
I received a letter last week that was the end of a young man's forty-three battle with guilt. I am leaving it anonymous to protect his reputation.
"As a young boy, I decided to skip school for the day as I was sure I would not pass a test to be given. A day of hooky sounded like a better plan. I was not alone in this though and soon a friend joined me in a day of adventure. It was midday when we wandered to the steps of Calvary Baptist Church and went inside to look around. Honestly there were no preconceived plans for what happened next, but I was there so I am guilty. As I looked around, I saw my friend taking a microphone from a stand and placing it under his shirt. I asked him what he was doing and before I knew it we were both running out the door.
"That was forty-three years ago and it is still on my mind. I am a Christian and have been for over twenty-five years. I know Christ has forgiven me, but want to give back what was taken. Please accept my deepest apologies and the enclosed check."
Oh, how this letter touched my heart (as I hope it does yours)! Immediately I was reminded of what Paul said it Acts 24:16,
So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.
Biblically this man did the right thing. He sought forgiveness from God first and then began building his life for Christ. Along the way God changed him and that changed involved a radical obedience to the Spirit's moving. Eventually his conscience was convicted of the wrong he committed forty-three years ago against a congregation who for the most part didn't know the theft took place or had forgotten and moved on. However, God would not let this man move on until he radically obeyed and proved his repentance through a changed life. I am sure his check more than covers the microphone, and besides, the microphone is not the real issue anyway...his radical obedience is.
I praise our Father in heaven for letters and repentant faith like this. I reminds me that my spiritual walk is not moving in the right direction until I am ready to obey my Sovereign Lord at any cost to me personally. I hope this reminder helps your walk too.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
.jpg)
