God's Loving Rebuke And Discipline

Love and discipline. To the one going through the rigours of the latter, the love part of it seems very hard to see. It's all one can do just to endure the hardship, sometimes even pain. Where does love fit in all that?

Yet, ask people who have been trained by it, and they will tell you that they owe the strength and wisdom that they have from having faced discipline.

Take those that respond to adversities as their calling in life: emergency workers, rescue crews in calamities, firefighters. Like soldiers that go to war, they go through rigorous training where discipline is emphasized. And those that become successful at it---and for that matter, at life---have come to terms with the absolute necessity of discipline in ensuring that they can at least deliver a decent job at it.

Guess who invented all that? God loves us so much He will just never allow us to get spoiled rotten.

Scripture:
"Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on earth.

" I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:10, 18-21)

Observation:
Great rewards await those that endure patiently. God's instruction is to purchase wealth from Him, true riches purified through trial and testing. From Him comes holiness that covers sins, and His truth, the only medication to soothe spiritual blindness. God loves us so much that He disciplines us. When we are earnest and repent, our fellowship with Him is made full.

Application:
In my humble state, I am being still before my Father in heaven. Knowing that He is God, I endure His loving discipline. I expect that He will bring me through the pain and suffering. He will enable me to emerge from it all far richer in everything and far more whole in spirit and in my relationship with Him.

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your desire to enrich my relationship with You. Thank You for Your rebuke and discipline. Holy Spirit, please enable me to endure and be steadfast before God. I repent and am being earnest in correcting my heart and my behavior, renewing my mind about sin. Fill me, sweet Holy Spirit. Let all glory be to Jesus. In Christ's Name I pray. Amen.

December 27, 2006 entry to the personal handwritten journal I use in my quiet time with God.