Category: discipline

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

Posted on by Dorci

“Never stop learning.”

“Keep learning.”

“Don’t give up learning.”

I must have heard this admonition at least three or four times over the past couple of weeks.  Heaven help us if we ever come to the place where we think we have it all figured out.  Or that we’re too old or too young or too busy, or too anything to learn new things.

There is no where that is truer than in our walk with Christ on our journey through life.

God is always speaking, as long as we’re listening.

In Peter’s second letter to those living in faith in Christ, he writes:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7

Faith is not a badge we put on at the moment of conversion as if the race were over and the rewards already given.  Faith is the starting point.  Then, with our faith in hand, we run the race.

Virtue

Live with high moral standards.  That is a daily, conscious effort in this morally-declining world.  Up is down, right is wrong and wrong is right.  But we know where to go to cut to the chase and find the absolute truth, and that is always God’s Word.

Knowledge

God tells us in scripture that we are to grow in the knowledge of Christ, grow in the wisdom and knowledge that Christ gives, and, interestingly, that husbands are to live in an understanding (knowledgeable) way with their wives.

Self-control

The more we allow the Holy Spirit to rein in our hearts and lives, the more we will learn to restrain ourselves from the things of the world that create division from Him, and vice versa.

Steadfastness

This is a cheerful, patient endurance through all our trials, ever-increasing in hope that through it all our God is molding us into the image of His Son.  We learn to wait – to wait for direction, to wait for discernment, to wait for rescue, to wait for healing, to wait on our God and know that He hears, He loves us, and His timing and ways are perfect.

Godliness

Simply, less of me and more of Him.

Brotherly affection

Daily we are to grow in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Love

This is agape, the highest form of love. It is the pinnacle of sacrificial, unconditional love that puts ourselves on the alter to serve another.

To grow in these godly qualities takes a willingness to be humble.  It takes being able to admit when we’re wrong so we can repent and grow.  It is taking regular stock of our hearts through scripture as the Sword “penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12) 

It takes walking out of the shadows into the bright and baring light of Christ and letting Him examine us, burning off those ungodly traits through the fire of trial, and knowing that those same flames burn with His love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.

Why? Why do we want to do these things instead of just coasting through life, knowing that we have salvation at the end of it?  Peter tells us in the next verse:

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 1:8

I don’t know about you, but I want to be effective.  I want my life to count for good.  It was used for enough pain and sorrow before Christ graciously invaded my life.  I want to learn and grow and trip and get back up and try again, trust more, pray more, yield more, love more. 

In this one life I get, I want Christ to have His way in and through me. I want to learn the way of my Master and be prepared and unashamed when I meet Him face to face. 

But it won’t come by osmosis.

So I take the faith handed to me by the Holy Spirit, and together we run…

Grace and Peace in Abundance,

 

The Mercy of Discipline

Posted on by Dorci

“…He does not treat us as our sins deserve…” Psalm 103:10

God’s mercy is not getting what we deserve – the rightful punishment for our sins. But God’s mercy goes even further.

We also deserve to be left alone in our pride and temptations, only to fall headlong into sin and reaping the consequences.

But again, God does not give us what we deserve. Instead, He is a heavenly Father whose eyes and thoughts are constantly on us. He lovingly woos us to the cross, and then once we are His children, He continues to mature us through the discipline of pain and heartache and suffering. He knows the precise timing for opened and closed doors. He knows just how much to allow, and when to hold back. He knows how to teach our hearts not to wander, and how to shape us into the image of His Son.

Not only is the absence of punishment His mercy, so is His discipline.

“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

 
Grace and Peace,

 

Halfhearted Won’t Do

Posted on by Dorci

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13

Have you ever had someone come in the room and try talking to you when you’re in the middle of watching tv?  You try listening to what’s being said but half your attention is still on your show.  You end up either missing what’s going on on the tube (that’s what we called it in the old days – the “tube”), or you miss most of what was said, and you end up nodding your head, pretending you heard, or you have to fess up and say “What did you say?”.

God says we will find Him when we seek Him with our whole heart.  Why?  Why can’t we seek Him with part of our heart?  Because then the rest of our heart is seeking after something else, or many somethings else.

Our attention would be divided, and our God’s is a still, small voice.

He has visions to give, wisdom to impart, paths to share, but He won’t compete with the world.  He won’t compete with us. There is room for only one throne in the heart of each person.  If we’re on it, God can’t be.  But when we get down, all the way down, get rid of the distractions, and let God have His rightful place, then we’re in the position to hear Him.

Then we’ll find Him.  And that’s where the real treasure is. 

Grace and peace,

The Road to Peace

Posted on by Dorci

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

With the way the world’s looking right now, this is not an easy thing to do. It takes a conscious, concerted effort to walk away, look away, turn the channel, say no to those things that are impure, things that will first corrupt our minds, then our hearts, then our mouths, then our lives, and instead put into them those things that are good for the building up of our spirits.

Why? Paul tells us in verse 9: “And the God of peace will be with you.” If you’re looking for peace, even craving it, in the middle of this tumultuous world, God shows us how. When we invite those things that are pure, we invite the God who created them, the God who IS pure, and He brings with Him peace.

In His great grace,

Stumbling Block

Posted on by Dorci

“‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

As we grow up in Christ, we learn to put away our so-called rights. We learn that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. It doesn’t mean it is good for our walk, good for the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ, good for our witness to the unsaved world, and good for glorifying our Father.

As our love grows, so does our desire to put aside those things that would keep us from shining as brightly as we can in this dark and aging world. More than the “thing”, we desire to magnify the Name of Christ and to be about our Father’s business, not our own.

If you had one week to live, what would you put away for the good of Christ and to make the most of the time you had left for Him? People are dying around us, if not physically, then spiritually. If we have a chance to be Christ for them, so to speak, to be the embodiment of the Spirit, which we certainly are, and to show them there is a different way, a holy way, a godly way, is the “thing” worth it?

People may not say it, but they are looking for something different. Something other than what the world offers, because what it offers is sin and disillusionment and destruction and death. They are looking for a way through, an answer, a peace in the middle of the storm, a purpose.

They don’t know it, but they are looking for Christ. Is the “thing” you would give up a stumbling block, for yourself or for them? Is it worth it? Life is short and we have one purpose: to glorify our Creator. To know Him and make Him known. Is it time to kick the stumbling block out of the way?

In Christ we have the freedom to do, but even greater is the freedom we have to give it up.

In His great grace,