Posted on 06/14/2022 7:08:13 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die” (Proverbs 15:10).
“Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way,” this is chastening. Paul said in Hebrews, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11). No one likes to be punished. No kid likes to get a whipping. No child of God looks forward to being chastised.
I’m glad that God corrects me when I step out of the way. For the first place, it shows that I am His child. “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:5-8).
God doesn’t punish the Devil’s kids. If a man is not saved, he is none of God’s family. I never spanked the neighbor’s kids (though I wish I could have at times), my authority was limited, rightly so, to my own children. So when God spanks me, I know that I am His.
“. . . and he that hateth reproof shall die,” God knows it won’t do any good. He won’t accept it, he’ll hate it, so God will just let them go on their way and die. God even says that to a Christian in First Corinthians 11 through Paul: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (11:29-30).
We are God’s children when we are saved, but we still have our free will. We can reject God’s lordship in our lives and live just the way we want to—and quite often it will result in an early grave. God won’t force anyone to do anything against their wills.
A. W. Tozer said the following regarding the paradox of the Christian:
“A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen: talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see: expects to go to Heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full: admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; and is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible: hears the inaudible and knows that which passeth knowledge.”
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