Category: Devotion of the Day

ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF GOD’S CHASTISEMENT

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.
Hebrews 12:6

When trouble comes our way we are apt to overlook this blessed fact. If we had no chastening we might well inquire whether we are children of God. This passage (5:11) is very explicit: if we are without chastisement we are bastards, not sons. Of course, the ungodly have plenty of trouble, and the way of the transgressor is hard, but the affliction of the unrighteous is not the chastisement of the Father. They are not His sons.

In this day of light and loose and lunatic notions of childrearing, of course discipline does not mean much. But God has not been converted to the new pattern. Verse 9 says, “We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence.” Alas, too many fathers have not corrected, and too many children have no reverence for fathers or for God. But the obedient Christian accepts God’s discipline, seeks to learn its lessons, and gains the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God’s purpose is that we might be partakers of His holiness. Surely that is worth all it costs.

But never forget this: God’s chastening originates in His love. Because we are partakers of the Divine nature, His children, He disciplines us in order that we might be partakers of His holiness.

HE WOULD HAVE PASSED BY

He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
Mark 6:48.

With the Emmaus disciples, “he made as though he would have gone further.” Here He walks the waves, while the amazed disciples suppose they have seen a spirit. He assures them, “It is I.”

Joseph and Mary supposed He was with them when He was not. Here others supposed He was not with them when He was. Mary in the garden supposed Him to be the gardener. No wonder the old Negro maid said, “I never sposes. Dem sposes will get you into trouble.”

When the storm rages, He is there. But He will pass by if you do not avail yourself of His presence. “He would have passed by them…He made as though he would have gone further.” Call upon Him. “Pass me not, O gentle Saviour: do not pass me by.”

He came to them in their distress, but He did not come into the boat until they called. He did not go into the Emmaus home until they constrained Him. He will not intrude. There is a point beyond which He will not go. If we do not invite Him in, He will go on.