Enduring Trials

Scripture

Heb. 12:7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?  8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.  9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.  11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Observation

Trials will come about in life and will probably make us feel incredibly uncomfortable. God disciplines his children because he wants us to be holy. If this were not the case he would allow us to keep on making the same mistakes again and again.

Everyone has issues which need discipline, but not everyone is disciplined. A parent disciplines their child for the sake of the child, wanting to help set their young one on the right path. Our heaven Father does the same. Sometimes the discipline is incredibly painful and hard to work through, but if we take the time to get through it, we will bear peaceful fruit.

Application

Trials and discipline! Neither of these sounds like fun, but they are necessary for us to become God’s holy people.

There seems to be a lot of “junk” going around these days, and I hear the voices of many who are discouraged. Today’s scripture brings me to a different perspective. Could it be that the revelation of  “junk” is an answer to prayer? God disciplines his children so we can share in his holiness. We are a people who have claimed the phrased, “Called Unto Holiness.” If this is the case, then should we not expect trials and discipline in order to help us become God’s holy people?

We are invited to respond and learn from the discipline. That’s what we expect of our children. We don’t discipline them just to make them feel bad, but rather we discipline them so that they learn a lesson and they won’t fall into the same temptations again and again. So, we are to learn; we are to change our ways; we are to be repentant; we are to suffer the consequences; and finally we are to be trained by the experience. When we are trained by trials and discipline we will yield the “peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Personally and corporately we are called to be God’s holy people. If this is truly the desire of our hearts, we will need to endure trials.

Prayer

Lord, may I be a willing child in your arms.  Amen.

Thank you to Nazarene Publishing House and Keri Mitchell for helping to create and publish Reflecting the Image. This is not a devotional book, but rather a collection of thoughts and stories which lead us in the direction of reflecting Christ. Click on the image to take you to the NPH bookstore.The book is also available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.