daily IMPACT by selahV today

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE BEING CORRECTED?

Maybe not.

Have you found, as I, that most folks hate to be corrected?  They don't like others telling them where they go wrong and what they should do.  When faced with a choice between what man wants to do and what God wants him to do, quite often a man will follow the dictates of his own desires.  He justifies a critical spirit.  He compromises a truth.  He sugar-coats a bitter heart and white-washes sinful acts.

What good is correction and discipline?  How can one have joy in the process?  Well, most folks will attest that it is not a pleasant experience.  And to be honest, the Bible says that, too.  So when met with the corrective intervention of God, most often folks balk and will not submit to His discipline.  Even though a child of God sincerely wants to be what God wants, they don't jump up and down in the midst of correction.

"For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]. Hebrews 12:11  Amplified.

So discipline is not fun.  And when one is going through disciplinary process, it may seem grievous and painful.  But later it returns great reward of righteousness; it manifests much fruit.  Correction restores, rejuvenates, and develops the character.  If we don't like it when we're going through it, others should certainly like us better afterwards, don't you think?  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]        

WHEN YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM CORRECTION

It was 2:00 a.m.  I heard a noise outside my office window.  I peeked through the blinds and saw two boys about the age of twelve skateboarding down the street.  The noise had come from my neighbor's yard.  They'd been using her sloping driveway as a launch ramp.  Where were those boys' parents?

On another day I drove down my street and there in the middle of the road was a group of children.  Some circled their bikes around and around. Others walked in slow motion; I had to stop and wait till they decided to clear a path for me to pull into my driveway.  Two boys stared at me like I was rudely infringing upon their territory.  My garbage cans were empty from the trash pick-up that morning.  When I went to retrieve them, one boy about the age of 14 went riding by my cans and kicked one over.  As he rode down the street they all broke into peals of laughter and ran after him.

I'd venture to say that these children received very little discipline in their lives.  Oh, it's probably safe to say they may have been corrected at times.  But I'd guess they had not been disciplined to follow the corrections.  Then again, I might be wrong.  In this day and age, many parents set no boundaries.  They enforce no rules.  Many kids have no curfews and face no consequences for their actions.  As children of God, we have a Father in Heaven who corrects us and disciplines us and expects much more from us.

"You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons.  For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?  Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God's children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].  Moreover we have earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us].  Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live?  For [our earthy fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness." Hebrews 12:7-10

And as God's children, we must submit our will to His will.  The lost and illegitmate will see no reason to follow God's commands or be guided by the principles set forth in His Word.  But we are His own and we are expected to live according to all the teachings of Christ.  To be exempt from correction and discipline, you cannot be a child of God.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]   

WHEN GOD MEANS BUSINESS

She kept reaching for items on the shelves every time the mom moved her cart.  Mom would take the item, put it back on the shelf and say, "No, no, darling."  This scenario repeated itself several times till the mom, moved further and further away from the shelves to distance her cart from the reach of her 4-year-old.  But every time the mom moved closer to the shelves to allow for another cart to pass by, the child immediately reached for another item.  Clearly, the child didn't want the particular item; clearly the child wanted to disobey.  Then it happened.  The child reached for an item and caused many items to come crashing to the floor.  Pickle jars lay strewn in a broken sticky mess.  The mom slapped the child's hands and reprimanded, "I told you no!"

We've all seen the gentle correctives by parents who have a child out-of-control.  We've seen the repeated disobedience of a child bent on challenging the rules and authority of a parent.  Unlike a parent who's been tested beyond tempermental limits, who reaches a point of frustration, our Father in heaven is in total and complete control of every situation in which we are found.  He doesn't worry in the least that we test the restraints of His boundaries; He knows He is in control.  He knows when to slap our hands in love with corrective measure without even the hint of anger.

"For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes." Hebrews 12:6

When we reach for forbidden fruit, we face God's intervening correction and discipline.  When we disregard His correction and disciplinary actions, we can expect the scourge of His sovereign hand in our lives.  We are His children and He wants us to know to Whom we are accountable in this life.  We may get away with things with man.  We may ignore the rules.  We may cheat and lie and manipulate.  But God will exact His discipline in our lives.  If warnings go unheeded, if reproofs are rebuffed, the Lord will do what is necessary to bring us back into His will.  We are His, not someone else's child.  He takes our sanctification seriously.  Because He loves us.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]