Suffering as a method of discipline II

Welcome to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”!

We have been granted another day as a blessing from the Lord. I believe that His grace and help is sufficient for all of us this day.

Yesterday we began talking about how God corrects us and helps us see the truth through suffering. We talked about Jonah who discovered the condition of his heart only after having to suffer because of his disobedience. It was grief and suffering that opened Jonah’s eyes to the fact that he had backslidden from the Lord. When he ended up in the belly of a fish, he could have perished, but God is not interested in the destruction of a sinner; rather He is interested in his salvation. God is interested in the repentance of His children and for this reason He uses various methods, including pain and suffering; by them He disciplines us.

My responsibility is to live a worthy life and to walk in obedience before the Lord. If I become disobedient, then according to the Bible my Heavenly Father corrects and disciplines me. To discipline is to correct for moral perfection. That is why the Bible says:

«As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent» (Revelation, 3:19).

«”For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons» (Hebrews, 12:6-8)

Just like any responsible father on the earth disciplines his children when he sees their disobedience, our Heavenly Father also disciplines us – His children. It says in First Corinthians:

 «For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world»(1 Corinthians, 11:31-32).

We will be able to avoid God’s judgement if we WILL JUDGE OURSELVES and not ignore our sins, thus forcing God to judge us. Apostle John said to Christians:

 «If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness » (1 John, 1:9).

My Christian duty is to make maximum effort to accept from God the power for sinless living. If it happens that I sin, I have to repent and CONFESS my sin before the Lord. If I do not want to do that, then I am an undisciplined child and my Heavenly Father will chasten and correct me. As sad as it sounds, but it is true that many Christians go through tragedies and grief in their lives because they refuse to confess their sins before God and repent of them.

Remember how often your parents disciplined you, when you were children and took the things you were not supposed to take! And surely at the moments like that you as a child were begging your parents to change their mind about disciplining you and to give you what you wanted. They usually said ‘no’. When Mom and Dad said ‘no’, it did not lessen your desire to have whatever you wanted isn’t it? Quite often when they weren’t around you took and did what was forbidden. What happened when you were caught? You got disciplined for your disobedience.

The Bible says both in the Old and New Testaments that God disciplines His children. I am not saying that God is the source of our tragedies. Yet it is important to understand that God can discipline us by allowing pain and sufferings in our lives if we open the door for it through disobedience.

We will continue tomorrow!

May God abundantly bless you!

Pastor Rufus Ajiboye