Chastisement

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Proverbs 3:11-12 says, “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

     My parents were not displayers of natural affection.  I don’t ever recall getting hugged by either of them.  That being said, I still can positively say that they loved both me and my sister.  When and if correction was  needed, I would get it.  With Mom, it was the “look.”  You know you have done something wrong when you get the “look.”   Dad was full of proverbs, some not appropriate to say here, but you got the idea.  Chastening would come with a switch when necessary which was not too often but usually could be guaranteed if I talked back to him., which I did only once.  If a person doesn’t care about chastening a child, perhaps the child is not theirs to begin with.  

     The above passage reminds us of the love of God the Father for His children.  John 1:12 reminds us that we can become children of God by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Then, when we do something wrong or that which is contrary to God’s commandments, we get  chastened in one way or another.  We may not see the “look” from God, but we know it when we do wrong as the Holy Spirit within us convicts us of our sin.  I have purchased a third cross as the other two became missing.  Well, someone stole them. I knew about the first one and we caug ht the person taking it and reprimanded her but withing thirty minutes, I took the cross to her and said, “Do you really want this?”  She replied, “Oh, yes.” and I gave it to her.  As I sat there thinking about the saga of the crosses I became convicted about it and figured that if she wanted it that bad, then give it to her.    I purchased the second one and  had velcro on it and fastened to the door only to have it taken as well.  The third cross is hanging on the inside of the room and so is safe, I think.  Romans chapter eight deals with walking in the Spirit and to be obeying His leading in our lives and not to follow after the flesh.  It is a constant battle and you know when you do wrong by that  conviction that occurs after doing it.  If, however , you do wrong and do not have any conviction about it, you may need to reevaluate your relationship with God.  If you fail to change in the area of displeasing to God, you will find that you keep getting chastised until you learn the lesson. Jonah tried to run the opposite direction but God made sure that Jonah went to Nineveh, one way or another.  Like E. F. Hutton.  When God speaks, everybody ought to listen.  Praise God for His correction of His children of whom, you are one.