Jeremiah 30
Persevere in Discipline!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 24.
The parent takes a deep breath, saying to her teenage child as she grounds him, “Trust me, one day you will thank me for this and understand that what I am doing is for your good.” Loving parents must discipline their children, to help them reach their full potential. Truly, it is for their good, but that’s a difficult concept for children to comprehend. Solomon taught a key principle of discipline in Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death.” Discipline is an activity of hope and not one of despair.
In the same way that loving parents are exhorted to discipline their children, God, our Heavenly Father, desires to lead us into His life and not punish us unto our deaths. But, to give us life we must face the consequences of our sin, so that we don’t continually return to our folly (Proverbs 26:11). In Jeremiah 30:24, the prophet proclaimed God’s perseverance to discipline Judah as a loving parent, “The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has performed and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart; in the latter days you will understand this.” Because there was still hope for their return, God disciplined them.
By God’s grace, the same is true for us today. Jesus came to restore us into a right relationship with the Father by dealing with the sin issue that keeps us separated from Him, but we can’t ignore the chastising of the Spirit regarding our sin. We must be mature adults, responding to God’s loving discipline and no longer quenching the work of the Spirit when He convicts us of our need to repent from sin, so that, we may share in His holiness (John 16:7-15; Ephesians 4:30).
Seize the moment and persevere in discipline, trusting that those who do will bear the good fruit of maturity in Christ (Hebrews 12:7-11)
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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