Rev 3:19 As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Jesus saved His
strongest rebuke for the church of Laodicea. He had no commendation for them
and plenty of condemnation. Still, they were His children, it was His church
and He had this to say to them, “I love you, therefore I am taking you out
behind the woodshed.”
Parents are not
supposed to discipline other people's children. But they have need of taking
care of their own. So it is with the Heavenly Father. The Devil’s kids will be
punished, but not chastised by the Lord. If we find ourselves being spanked by
the Lord, we are blessed to know it is because we belong to Him and are loved
by Him.
The writer of
Hebrews is careful to explain this parental care of the Father:
Heb 12:5 And ye
have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you
as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are
ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them
reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? 10 For they verily
for a few days chastened us
after their own pleasure; but he for our
profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.
In short, when
we find ourselves being rebuked or corrected by the Lord, it is because He is
our Lord and cares enough to ensure that we learn from our mistakes.
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