"For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6-11, NKJV)
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Chastening is never fun, but we are brought to know just how necessary and beneficial chastening is for us. The trouble is that most believers do not recognize the chastening hand of God nor do they learn from it. Often God finds it necessary to chasten us repeatedly until we "wise up" and learn His intended lessons for us.
Allow me to share with you at least eight (8) major benefits and blessings from experiencing and learning from chastisement. For the record this list is in no particular order of importance.
- It teaches us compassion for others
- It teaches us to properly value "things"
- It teaches us how to continue to conform to Christ
- I teaches us to pray
- It teaches us to search the Scriptures for help
- It teaches us to weep over our sin
- It teaches us to long for heaven
- It teaches us to redeem time wisely
Most interesting and thought provoking to read Gregg.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.