The Love of the Father: Part 2

Remember back in part 1 when I said that the Lord began teaching me more about His role as my perfect heavenly Father when I was studying Hebrews 11 & Psalm 103 in tandem? I never really explained myself in the first post because I wanted to take the time to explore those passages a little bit more than I could have in that post alone. In that post I focused on God's fatherly love, but in this post I will be sharing more about what God has been teaching me about the way He lovingly disciplines His children.

Since February of this year, I have really been digging into Hebrews 12; it is a familiar passage, & I think that because it is so familiar that I sometimes have the habit of speed-reading, but it is such an incredibly rich chapter!
I hope you'll take the time to read through the eight verses that I would like to focus on. Verses 3-11 say:

"Consider him (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?       

'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.'

  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. "

God's discipline looks different in each of our lives, but His discipline always has the same purpose in every believers life: to make us more like His Son. It is often said that God loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way. Verse 10 of this passage says that God "disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness." This passage is also honest in acknowledging the pain that comes with discipline. There are times when God is working in our lives to make us more like Christ, & we just don't understand what He is doing, or why. We can be hurt, confused, lonely, & afraid, & it is all for the sake of discipline. You might be thinking that this all seems a little unfair, but consider again God's love & purpose in transforming us by any means necessary. We already established in the last post that God as our Father loves us more than humanly comprehensible. It is in these verses that we are confronted by the fact that if God truly loves us, He must discipline us, otherwise we would be regarded as illegitimate children. Many of the sweetest times I have had with the Lord have been during some of the most difficult times in my life.

During the midst of trials, we have a choice. We can either accuse God of punishing us & then ignore Him, like we are somehow "getting even," or we can accept that trial as a chance to show Christlike-ness. To be steadfast in our faith & grow in grace & in the knowledge that God is enough in times of confusion & pain. He has promised to sustain us & comfort us in every circumstance, if only we will ask it of Him. This is where Psalm 103 comes in. I love this. I was in this passage one evening & actually getting a little bit bogged down considering the discipline of the Lord, when I turned to this Psalm & read verses 8-17:

"The LORD is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

  He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

  as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

  As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

  For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

  But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to 

everlasting on those who fear him."

Isn't it comforting to know that the Lord doesn't punish us according to our transgressions? To know that He looks on us with compassion & sympathizes with our weaknesses? I don't know about you, but I think that the word "dust" is the perfect way to describe our human fragility. Although God our Father must discipline us for our good, He also understands our weaknesses & has compassion on us. I encourage you to really study these passages on your own & find more about the Lord's discipline. It is an encouragement to understand God's purposes in allowing us to go through hard times. As I close out this post, I'm going to end back where we began in Hebrews 12, verses 1 & 2. 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. "

The Love of the Father: Part 1

Have you thought lately about your relationship with God as your Father lately? 
I don't mean just a casual knowledge that God is your heavenly Father; we all know that that is the relationship we have been given through Christ, but do we really comprehend it? I know I don't. 


When you think of the words "Heavenly Father," what do you think of? Do you immediately think of the attributes of God that He has laid out for us so clearly throughout His word? His goodness, holiness, mercy, steadfast love, protection, & provision? Or is there a disconnect between what you know & what you actually believe? AW Tozer said that "your view of God is the most important thing about you." Do you truly view God as your perfect, loving Heavenly Father, or do you feel like He has forgotten about you? The Lord has been bringing these questions & others back to me over & over this semester, and I am admittedly still working through everything that He's trying to teach me. But I just wanted to share what He has taught me so far. 


I'll admit it; one of the biggest things that I struggle with in my relationship with the Lord is truly comprehending that He loves me unconditionally. I didn't use to struggle with this at all. I heard it all my life, & I honestly didn't think I was that bad of a person, but the more I understand my own sin nature & the more I see how short I fall of righteousness, the more easily doubt creeps into my heart. I didn't recognize it until early this semester when I was in Hebrews 12 & Psalm 103 in my devotions. Although it wasn't a "lightbulb" moment, it started the ball rolling on understanding what was going on in my heart & in my view of God. Of course I know that God loves me more than anyone else does & that His love is unconditional, but that knowledge hadn't really, truly sunk into my heart. Deep down, I felt like I still had to earn it. It seems SO silly, because obviously I am a sinner. I could never, ever earn the kind of love that God gave to me when I accepted His gift of salvation & was made His child. But it's so easy to fall into the trap of feeling the need to do things to somehow earn God's favor; I mean after all, isn't that how it generally works in our human society? We have to do things, or act a certain way, & perform well to gain acceptance, a position, our grades, and even love. That's just the way we naturally think: I have to do _____ so that in return,  I will gain ______. But the cool thing is, God has completely gone against every one of our socially shaped expectations of "earning." Let's take a look at some examples:


In our world, you have to be a friend to have a friend.
But God has said, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us & sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins....We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:10&19)
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. " (Romans 5:6-10)


In our world, you must be faithful, (whether it be on the job, in a relationship, or any other area of life), in order to gain trust & eventually earn reward for your faithfulness. 
But God's word has said, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself."   (2 Timothy 2:13)


Are you beginning to grasp how incredibly un-human God is? His rules for relationships are so opposite of what we're used to...thankfully! We don't have to earn His love. We don't have to worry that God will forsake us when we are faithless; did you catch the end of 2 Timothy 2:13? He cannot deny Himself. We have been redeemed the blood of Christ. Ok, you may still be thinking "I don't get it...what does God saying He cannot deny Himself have to do with me?" Here are some verses from Ephesians two that may help clear up the confusion: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." (verses 13-16) 


Pretty sweet concept there! If you have accepted the gift of salvation that Christ made possible through His death on the cross, then you have been made one with God. He sent His Son to die so that you would know His love! I know this is the whole foundation of the gospel, but it is so easy to lose sight of the truth. It is so easy to start thinking that God gives favor based on what we do or don't do, but that is such a lie. I heard a quote during Sunday school that past week that really hit home. John Owen said "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that He loves you.” 


Are you convinced of your Heavenly Father's love for you? Really think & pray about it this week. Is there any area of your life where you're living like you believe God's faithfulness & favor is dependent on your performance? Focus on truth! God has really been teaching me SO much in this area, that I won't try to cram it all into one post, but I hope to post again soon to continue sharing. =) Thanks for stopping by & I hope that you are blessed & comforted by the reality of our Heavenly Father's perfect, steadfast love.