3 No Escape Verses
This following confession is as frank as it is real. I believe it will always humble my soul and burn my spirit, for it is a record of wrongs and the assailant of my pride:
There are but a few lessons I have learned in life of any lasting value that did not arise out of hardship. I now know (for I am slow to learn) the longer the pain the stronger the lesson, but the higher the gain will be.
Without the external input of a far more immovable force than even my sin (God's love) my self-will remains frightfully strong, extremely poorly managed and self-consuming.
God's hardest task has been freeing me of me...
so I learned not to shun the day of discipline for it is plain evidence of Divine love.
It is through climbing the arduous trek to God's face I truly find who I am, but this is only discovered when I first learn suffering is the path to perfection.
John Calvin got this right:
It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.
Therefore there are NOW three verses I just can't escape:
- My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke (Proverbs 3:11)
- Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death. (Proverbs 19:18)
- In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. (Hebrews 2:10)
Despite how you may feel about yourself, whether you feel you are a hero or a zero...
Regardless of the messages that have soaked your spirit since infancy...
these above verses are not just for your cousin, uncle, neighbor or boss - they are for us both.
Floundering in sin grieves our Father, as much as it may delight us. All would fail to sin if it did not offer pleasure.
Sin distances us from our Lord and so by default we choose our own ignorance to its harmful consequences.
God loves each of us far too much to ever leave us in our sin, even you or me.
Suffering is how God traps the heart.
Today's Soul Snippet:
"Jesus engages individuals without examining their corporate values, skin color, or skill base - He checks the heart alone!" ~ Michael Cartwright
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