The Chastening of the LORD

My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: (Pro. 3:11)

Objectivity is a complex thing: you can slide out of objectivity almost as easily as you can slip into pride. However, it is one of the most needful things in the Christian life, because without it, one becomes self-centered, without the ability to see God's hand molding and shaping his life.

I have seen, in my life and in the lives of others, the tendency to assume control of ones' own life: this invariably winds up being disastrous, sometimes irreparably so. Take Jonah, as an example: when he tried to make his own choices against the will of God, he almost wound up dead. The second time (and you thought he learned his lesson!), God "shelved" him, never to be heard from again. I'm not saying that if you disobey God twice that He's going to retire you, but there comes a point where you'd think a person would learn his lesson and just simply OBEY!

But of course, that rarely, if ever, happens, even in the lives of the most devout among us. Every man falls, falters, fails or fumbles, and it's only God's longsuffering that allows us to keep on messing up and learning from our mistakes. I once preached a message on longsuffering: most people say that the word simply means patience, but third-grade etymology says otherwise. Longsuffering is suffering for a long time. God is LONGSUFFERING; He puts up with a lot of suffering because of us! Have you ever thought that your disobedience causes your God and Saviour to SUFFER?? Think about that next time you're tempted to complain, murmur, disobey or rebel.

Anyhow, back to my original topic. There are times when God needs to chasten or discipline us for something: in our predicament we can rarely see exactly what God is planning for us or preparing us for, but through it all, He knows what He is doing. That's where objectivity comes in: in the midst of my parents' most difficult times, they probably weren't thinking about the effect their faithfulness would have on their son who would eventually be called to the field: they were worried about the bills, groceries and tithe. Little did they know just how much God was using their struggles and even chastening to help prepare someone else for the task that He would give them.

If God has you in a tough spot; if you're up against the ropes getting the pudding pounded outta' you by a 240 lb. heavyweight; if you're wondering how you're going to make ends meet: just remember, God put you there, or at worst allowed you to get in that situation, and He is more than capable of taking care of you: He PROMISED to provide for you. Cheering up may be a bit beyond you right now, but take heart in the fact that God is working in you, to bring forth a vessel for the finer. (Pro. 25:4)

"In My Father's Eyes"

From a distance He'd be watching me,
And I guess somehow He knew,
That in my heart I longed to be like Him.
In time the closer we became,
The more it seemed I grew;
I'd fall, He'd pick me up, and I'd try again.

He loves me even when I do
The things I shouldn't do
And when I fail to do the things I should.
I've heard it said that love is blind,
And I guess I know it's true:
He forgets the bad, and remembers all the good.

In my Father's eyes, there's no wrong I've done,
In my Father's eyes, I am the perfect son.
He must see Someone I can't see,
And it makes me want to try
To be like the Son that's in my Father's eyes.

And when this life is over,
My last trial I've gone through,
T'will be worth it all just to hear Him say "Well done."
And maybe then I'll understand
Just what He saw in me,
But I'm sure I'll find that He was blinded by the Son.

In my Father's eyes, there's no wrong I've done,
In my Father's eyes, I am the perfect son.
He must see Someone I can't see,
And it makes me want to try
To be like the Son that's in my Father's eyes.

"The Mirror"

I put down the Mirror and said do myself
"Was that really me that I saw?"
I thought there might be something wrong with the Mirror,
For it magnified every flaw.
The more grooming I tried
Made me realize that what I saw in the image was true.
The truth I can't hide,
"Lord change me!" I cried,
"Make me a reflection of You."

And I love this old Mirror, God's Holy Word,
And I've found that it always rings true.
Lord, if not for the Mirror, I know I'd be lost,
For it was there I found You.
When things come between this old mirror and me,
Your image won't be shining through.
But in view of the Mirror,
My purpose is clearer,
To be a reflection of You.

I pick up the Mirror and now I'm amazed,
That that's really me that I see.
And I know that there's nothing wrong with this Mirror;
I'm just not what I used to be.
The more that I grow,
It's so good to know,
That this transformation is true.
May it not be me Lord, but You that they see,
A living reflection of You.

And I love this old Mirror, God's Holy Word,
And I've found that it always rings true.
Lord, if not for the Mirror, I know I'd be lost,
For it was there I found You.
When things come between this old mirror and me,
Your image won't be shining through.
But in view of the Mirror,
My purpose is clearer,
To be a reflection of You.

Perspective

Bro.Forrest asked me to put up some ideas on how to stay out of a rut as a Christian; while my post was specifically about our testimony as it relates to our jobs, it's apparent that the outline God gave me is relevant to every part of our Christian life.

1. God's Pardon

While Jesus said not to look back after setting your hand to the plow, sometimes it's good to remember what God saved us from and where we could be today without Him. It's almost rote, this concept, but it shouldn't be. The problem in Christianity is that we KNOW things, but we don't MEDITATE on them like we're commanded to. We know that God saved us and gave us a new life in Him, but we fail to really ponder what that means to us and how we owe Him such a great debt. We are insignificant nothings in His sight, yet He took the time and sacrificed for US. God, giving us worms the time of day - marvelous!!

2. God's Provision

Where would we be without His daily provision in our lives? How could we take a single breath, walk a single step, utter a single word, without His direct allowance and care? Again, we take this for granted every day without really contemplating His incredible work in our lives. From the dwelling that He's given us, the food that He provides us the money for, the strength and skill to work and the very breath that keeps us alive, God is more gracious and caring than we could ever deserve. Remember that, next time you take a bite of something, take a step somewhere, or wake up alive and healthy, God didn't HAVE to allow you to do that: He is just providing another blessing that you and I don't even come close to deserving.

3. God's Promise

After all that, the Salvation of God and the blessings of God, He deigns to even bless us more: He promises to give us a home in Heaven for eternity. Not only does He view our scummy frame of dust and love us, He will reward us just for serving HIM! It reminds me of a song by Gary Duty:

"I stand in true amazement,
At Your vast and perfect Plan:
How you could save a wretch like me,
I'll never understand.
And to allow me, though unfaithful,
To serve you 'till the end,
And then to be rewarded,
I just cannot comprehend!"

To "go through the motions" or "get stuck in a rut" is an affront to the amazing, all-powerful God that made us, saved us, cares for us and has promised to reward us. If you find yourself in a day-to-day, hum-drum existence, just ponder and meditate on the things that God has done for us. Thinking about and knowing them is not enough: just as knowing that Christ died for our sins is not enough to save us, just knowing about God's miracles in our life isn't going to get us far. It's really a difference between a head knowledge and a heart understanding.

I hope this was a help to someone. God bless!

*runs out of ideas*

I just got home from work. Not too bad, overall; I'm very thankful to have a job right now, to say the least. It's just amazing, though, how keeping the Lord in mind and praying throughout the night (I'm on third shift) can make things go so smoothly. I work with a varied and somewhat odd group of people, each with their likes, oddities, preferred individuals and those they dislike. It gets a little complicated sometimes, but I just have to keep in mind that I'm there to serve God, and in turn my boss and the company, not the other people that I work with.

Sometimes it's easy to get into a rut (remember, a rut is simply a shallow grave with both ends kicked out ;) ) in work and get complacent with our abilities and our standard of work; it's those times that we need to remember that we should be doing our labor as unto the Lord that DIED for us and shed His precious BLOOD for us. We can do so little to repay Him, but our daily lives and walk with Him is the one thing that we have to repay Him with. We need to remember that not only is the Lord watching us when we work and go about our daily lives, but there are people out there that know that we are Christians, and are watching everything that we do. As the saying goes, we might be the only Bible those people ever read; will they see Jesus in us, or just us?