Godly correction…

It is neither unbiblical nor mean to confront people about sin.

“Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” (Proverbs 9:8)

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” (Galatians 6:1)

“Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” (2 Thessalonians 3:15)

“My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)

Too many of our friends wander from God because we don’t love them enough to come along side of them and help them.

 

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He’s not your grand-daddy…

A grandfather typically is interested in enjoying and spoiling his grandkids.  He leaves painful things such as confrontation and discipline to the children’s father.  And if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we tend to want God to be more of a grandfather than a father.

As C. S. Lewis said:  What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?”  We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a Grandfather in Heaven — a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all”. 

It has been said that this present generation is a fatherless generation and suffers greatly from a lack of fathers.  And that is very true — tragically true.  Many men have abandoned their wives and children and fled from their responsibilities as fathers.

But there is another, less-talked about reason that the father/child relationship in our culture is so dysfunctional.  And that reason is that many of us do not really want to be fathered — we want to be grandfathered — and because of this, many have chosen to reject a true, biblical, father/child relationship.  And until we embrace ALL the fatherly aspects of God, we will be greatly handicapped — in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural — and suffer from all types of confusion and dissipation that can only be corrected by a firm, loving, wise Father.

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

“If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:8,11)

Guard your heart!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

I call it the TEFLON/VELCRO DANCE. Each day, throughout the day, bad things attempt to attach themselves to our hearts — resentment, fear, condemnation, trivia, distraction, etc. And to win this battle, and to successfully dance this dance, we must train our hearts to be like TEFLON with these things — to not embrace or rehearse them, but, by the grace He has given us, to move past them and go on with our day.

And in the same way, we need to train our hearts to embrace (and meditate on) the good things that are coming to us throughout our days (to stick to them like VELCRO!) — encouragement, kind thoughts towards others, trusting thoughts towards God, Godly correction, opportunities to forgive, etc.

Part of being a DISCIPLE is allowing the Spirit to discipline and train us to respond rightly to these things.  And I have found that as we do, it becomes less and less of a battle and more and more of a dance…

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

 

He’s your Daddy, not your Granddaddy!

A grandfather typically is interested in enjoying and spoiling his grandkids.  He leaves painful things such as confrontation and discipline to the children’s father.  And if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we tend to want God to be more of a grandfather than a father.

As C. S. Lewis said:

What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?”  We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a Grandfather in Heaven — a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all”.

It has been said that this present generation is a fatherless generation and suffers greatly from a lack of fathers.  And that is very true — tragically true.  Many men have abandoned their wives and children and fled from their responsibilities as fathers.

But there is another, less-talked about reason that the father/child relationship in our culture is so dysfunctional.  And that reason is that many of us do not really want to be fathered — we want to be grandfathered — and because of this, many have chosen to reject a true, biblical, father/child relationship.  And until we embrace ALL the fatherly aspects of God, we will be greatly handicapped — in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural — and suffer from all types of confusion and dissipation that can only be corrected by a firm, loving, wise Father.

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

“If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:8,11)

TUFF LUV!

…because sometimes we need a spanking…