Thanks for the Reprimand

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


In the syllabus I give to each of my classes, there is a section called "student responsibilities." Under this title,  I remind every individual in my class that they are responsible for the choices that they make, and for accepting the consequences of those choices prior to making their decisions. For example, if you plagiarize in my class, you receive a zero on an assignment and the administration is notified of the violation to the academic honor code. If you miss class, you are unable to earn participation points. Because I tend to be a planner  (and because I've been through several semesters of teaching), included in the syllabus is a pretty thorough list of the choices that students might make and what will happen as a result. The reason I do this, and enforce the policies I've outlined, isn't because I am mean. It's because (as I tell them) I want them to realize that it's better for them to learn that there are consequences for their actions in the relative safety of school, then when it "really counts" in their career. In other words, I do it because I care about their future and who they become.

I'm reminded that these are the same reasons that God is consistent with His discipline towards His followers.  His Word has clearly given us the directives for life, and just like Adam and Eve, we are without excuse when we choose to not follow the directions. The fact that at times, we suffer consequences for this disobedience is God's design of bringing us back to Him.  The hope, just like my hope for my students, is that we will recognize the error of our ways and return to make choices that honor Him.

(A quick note - this isn't to say that all bad things are punishment for our actions. For more on my take on the "problem of evil", please click here.)

Which brings me to the point of this little excursion, if the purpose of discipline is to bring me back in alignment with God, then when I recognize that I'm experiencing His correction, shouldn't my response be one of thanks? He could let me continue along my own, forsaken path, but instead, the consequences He allows, prompt me to return to Him? What is more evidence of His grace that even when I rebel, He desires to bring me back into relationship with Him?

Saying thanks when I receive a godly reprimand isn't an easy thing to do, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing.

What tips do you have to rightly respond to God's correction?

The Expected Exception

Most of have probably heard the phrase "Life's not fair." Generally it's uttered when we want to levy an accusation of inequity - when we didn't get something that we thought we rightly should. The reason that generations of mothers have probably uttered these words is that, just like so many things our mother tells us, it's true. Life isn't fair. And the quicker we accept this fact, the better off our attitudes will be.

What's noteworthy to me, though, is that most people want life to be "fair" until fairness obtains them an outcome they don't like. Let me give you an example. In my class, I currently don't accept late assignments. When someone turns in an assignment late, and I tell them - "I'm sorry, but you won't earn any credit for this", they quickly want me to be "unfair" and accept their assignment contrary to the standards that everyone else has been held to. It's understandable - after all, who wants to forgo credit on an assignment just because they missed the deadline? - but it certainly wouldn't be "fair" to give out credit. It would be patently unfair to all the other students who had to turn the paper in by the due date in order to earn a grade.

It's not just college students who think like this though. How many of us hope and pray that the "crazy" driver gets a ticket, until that crazy driver is us? When we're talking to the police officer, we're presenting our case for why we should be the exception to the rule. In fact, in our pride, we often expect it. (And we degradate the police if they are so ludicrous as to not conform to our new-found sense of "fairness.") We expect to be the exception, but we sure hope everyone is consistent with the standards when it means someone else might benefit.

The wonderful thing about God, though, is that He didn't give us what we deserve. In the penultimate case of unfairness, the perfect Christ died for sinners, so that sinners would have His perfection counted towards them. Maybe if we appreciated this a little more, we wouldn't be so concerned with the misgivings that transpire on Earth. And maybe, in recognizing how grossly unfair this was, we'd be more than content to accept the outcome when we don't receive the exception we're expecting.

How do you deal with the fact that life's unfair? 

Feeling Faithful

As a recently married woman, I am well-acquainted with the goodness and blessings that result from feelings. I think it was a special gift of God that He allows us to experience the same emotions He does - love, compassion, joy and peace. Even anger is a blessing because when rightly expressed it helps aligns us with the things that God hates and the sins that defame Him. Feelings are a barometer - they demonstrate what is important to us and the value that we place on such things. Anyone can have a duty to another person, but to feel something for them requires an investment that'd not easily made.

However, despite the proclivity of feelings to be a gauge for how our life is going, it shouldn't be the only standard by which we measure our lives. In fact, it's quite possible that it shouldn't even be the most important standard. Because, as we all well know, feelings change. However, despite the volatility of feelings, the obligations and commitments that come along with them do not vacilate as well. Therefore, something that is changable can not be the yardstick for evaluating that which is supposed to remain the same. A measurement must be consistent for it to be useful for anything at all. (Imagine the disasters that would happen in the kitchen or the construction yard if measurements changed on a regular basis.) Therefore, just as our pastor told us in pre-marital counseling, the feelings of "puppy dogs and icecream" that we have at the start of our marriage can not be the basis for the commitment we made. When those feelings change, the vows remain, and its those vows that must serve as our guide.

In the same way, people approach God with the view that fidelity to His principles is based on how they feel. If that's true, than that commitment isn't really a commitment at all. Because Christians know that they must agree with God that their sin is sin and that apart from Him nothing can save us. If this is the basis of our faith, then it is an immutable commitment. Our feelings, or lack therefore, have nothing to do with it.

We want to trust and turn to God in moments of despair and in moments of grandeur because at this moments we recognize that we are altogether different from who God is. But we must honor our commitment to faithfully serve Him even when we don't feel like it. For feeling faithful is a temporary condition. Being faithful is permanent.

The Right Thing

Once you make up your mind never to stand waiting and
hesitating when your conscience tells you what you ought to
do, and you have got the key to every blessing that a sinner
can reasonably hope for.
... John Keble (1792-1866)


So often we struggle with where life takes us. We wonder if the decisions we are making are going to turn out for good or bad. When the road forks in many directions, we hope that somewhere we can find a spoon, or a knife, or something that will make choosing a little easier. Even choosing nothing, is choosing something. And so we take a step forward, hopeful that if its not the optimal option we'll have the opportunity to make up for it somewhere along the line.

When we're faced with this situation. it's an amoral decision we must make. There isn't a right or wrong - only a multitude of choices. This type of question is of the essay variety, not the true/false kind. When we are faced with a decision that demands a moral response, knowing the right thing to do may be easier, but actually doing it can still contain a great amount of difficulty. Moral certitude can be a weak propellant. Maybe because doing the right thing in a difficult situation is rarely the easy thing. It extracts a price and we wait to count the cost before taking the step.

But waiting isn't the antidote to what ails us. This is one of the few situations where quicker is better. The right course of action doesn't change and acting on our convictions only grows more difficult with each passing second. The good news - the more we act on our convictions, the more we'll be witnesses to God's faithfulness, and maybe that we'll help us do the right thing a little quicker next time.

Are You Ready?

Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done." - Acts 21:13-14

Preparing for any time of testing is difficult. Whether it's a competitive game, a academic exercise, or a real-life circumstances, there's prepartion that is required before success can be anticipated. Preparation refines our skills, teaches us lessons, and builds our strength. If my life is any indication, usually we know when we're ready or if we're just going to try to get by on a wing and a prayer. We know because we have confidence that we have done the work necessary to achieve our goals.

I think sometimes though we don't undertake the same level of care with our spiritual preparation as we do making sure that we are ready for other events in our lives. We approach life with the recklessness of the rookie, rather than with the discipline of the battletorn soldier. We trust that our instincts will get us by, without refining what our instincts should be. We like to believe that God will supernaturally reinforce us without taking the time to build a foundation. Bad circumstances overwhelm us, because we never prepare for their eventual return.

In this case, and maybe in it only, what is true in athletics is also true spiritually. We can't hope to achieve readiness in the midst of the circumstance; readiness is achieved beforehand. Knowing that te purpose of this life is to bring God glory and to worship Him, our preparations should consist of becoming more adept at that. Our practice comes when things are good, when life is (relatively) carefree and we don't feel the desperate need for God that comes in times of trial. It is through this preparation that our skills are honed and our responses become instinctual. Right response is then not based on feeling, but on Who God is.

Paul had a very clear idea of what he would face as he entered Jerusalem. He made sure that he was ready to face it.


Are you?

Kadesh Barnea

"And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, "Go up and take possession of the land I have given you." But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey him" – Deuteronomy 9:23

It was a moment of decision. All of God's promises were about to be fulfilled. Obedience was the only thing that was needed. He had guided them each step of the way, they had to keep following. And they didn't.

My pastor often refers to the Kadesh Barnea's in our lives – the moments of decisions where we choose whether to follow God. He pulls the reference from the time when the Israelites had to choose whether to go up and fight the occupants of the promised land, or whether they would let their fear prevent their obedience. They choose the latter, and were forced to endure many more years of suffering and defeat.

What I've rarely heard discussed is that the Israelites did go up and fight. After they said "no" then they said "yes" – and they were defeated. They tried to circumvent God's punishment by doing what He said – just after the fact. They thought intentions were just as good as actions – and they were wrong.

I think we do the same thing. We are called to something, we say "no" and we realize that we've made a mistake. Instead of asking God what He wants us to do now we continue to try to find our own way, while ostensibly convincing ourselves that we are following Him. It rarely works. He calls us to act in a moment in time. Our job is to obey when we hear His voice. When we choose differently, our job is to seek His voice again – not to attempt to do it ourselves because our pride mingled with guilt convinces us that we can make it right. We can't make it right. Only the One who sees the whole picture can.

It's sometimes difficult to recognize when were at Kadesh Barnea. The Israelites had disobeyed before and sometimes God is His mercy withheld punishment. Kadesh Barnea, though, changed the course of history. That's why it's important to always seek His voice and to follow after His ways.