A Worthy Climb Up The Hill

I have a few thoughts about the discipline of the Lord as He guides our lives day to day. Hebrews 12 reminds us to not despise that discipline, because it works for us a righteousness that bears witness that we belong to God through faith in Christ Jesus.

4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM.

6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 

 

This discipline is usually thought of in terms of the Lord chastising us, the way a father may scold, or spank his young son when he is disobedient or is making some bad choices. Any conscientious father will certainly correct his son out of love, and yes the Lord will do the same for us as He leads us daily.

 

But the thought occurred to me that discipline can also mean a lifestyle of  adhering to a set of principles or guidelines for the sake of a great goal or objective. An athlete will follow the discipline of his coach because he wants to gain the victory in whatever sport he competes in.  A musician will also live by a set of guidelines and principles in order to master an instrument or piece of music for a performance or recording. Discipline will help us reach worthy goals and achieve success in the endeavors we may pursue.  As with any worthwhile goal, it isn't easy to live a life of focus and discipline necessary to reach that goal. Sacrifices must be made, the kind of foods we eat, the activities we choose, the people we allow to be close to us, all have an impact on our outlook, and priorities. If we are not careful, some of these things may detract us from  our purpose, therefore at times we sacrifice an immediate good thing to gain a much greater thing later.  

 

As followers of Jesus we are called "disciples" which means learners, but we see the similarity to the word discipline don't we. The discipline of the Lord is to live our lives according to the set of plain instructions and by principles that God has granted to us via His word.  There are some things we don't do, some activities we don't participate in, and yes, some people we don't allow too close to our lives or families.  It isn't because we try to earn salvation by keeping the rules, but rather out of God's love for us, and our love for Him, we live according faith, that whatever we may sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we will gain much more back as that kingdom is realized and we enter there at the hill of Zion at the end of our days.   

 

In these days when we are so hesitant to call anything "wrong," or "sin," and when culture tries to blur the differences between right and wrong, it may take some strong determination to live a life of the discipline of the Lord. Strictness, absolutism, even the notion of truth, are not popular at all.  Many will and do despise that discipline, but God calls us to live by it just the same. It will one day bring a reward of lasting righteousness and glory,  and whatever things that seem like loss today, will pale in comparison to what God will grant to His faithful people tomorrow!

The Devil In The Open

I think we are living in days that show evidences of the great apostasy spoken of by the Apostle Paul in 2Thessalonians chpt.  2.   I think that the evidence for such a statement is all around us, but one of the most dreadful is the wickedness that is saturating our culture through the dishonesty of the current media and through the rise of a radical leftist movement in our government.

We know that we have an adversary, the devil, and that he resists the will of God by deception and by deceitful activity through whatever avenues he is able to manipulate.  The outright wickedness we see being foisted upon the citizenry of this nation through the agency of government can be very distressing if we didn't know with conviction and certainty that Christ will ultimately prevail.

Now, I am not one of those who see the devil hiding behind every trial or wrong that is done, hiding behind every bush as they say.  We know that because we live in a fallen world there will be times of distress and tribulation without the devils help because of the presence of sin in this creation. As believers in Christ we are not exempt from experiencing sorrow or adversity.  However, that doesn't deny the reality of demonic activity in the here and now. He does assault the people of God and he does weaken entire nations. 

Isaiah 14 describes the traits of a wicked king who exalted himself as if he were equal with God, and from this description we get an idea of the mindset of Satan our adversary. One of the ways he is described in this passage is being one who "weakens the nations."  It is the same principle of lawlessness that Paul is addressing in 2 Thessalonians 2 that is weakening our nation by the deep saturation of our culture by demonic influence.

The fact of a government being fueled by spiritual wickedness is not new. We see it throughout history, and it is described for us in future events in Rev. 13.  There we read of "the dragon" giving power and authority to "the beast."  The dragon is clearly identified as the adversary, and the beast is identified as the man of lawlessness Paul writes of in 2 Thessalonians. In other words, demonic, satanic influence is being channeled into the world through a wicked government presided over by the one called, "the beast."

I'm saying that this principle is already happening in our nation. Satan is spewing all manner of wickedness through the agency of our own government, resulting in abortions, infanticide, homosexuality, financial policies being proposed that have there root in the same corrupt spring as National Socialism in Germany, Communism in the old Soviet Union and fascism in Italy.

People are deluding themselves because we have rejected the truth of the Gospel of Christ, and have embraced several variations of what the Bible calls, "the lie." The lie is that we can create our own morality, our own goodness, our own sense of right and wrong, but we do not need God to do it. The government presided over by wicked individuals will tell us what is correct, as in political correctness.  It is the principle of the demonic, being spewed into the fabric of our culture and a corrupt and wicked media apparatus is drumming the whole thing with a false narrative, day after day after day.

In these wicked times, we who are the church of Jesus Christ must hold to the Scriptures with all the more determination and fidelity.  We can and must face the wickedness being pumped into our culture with the pure light and truth of God's word. But also, we must live what we say we believe and what we say we hold dear.  The Thessalonian Christians turned from many idols to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts and minds. I trust we can do the same. These crooked individuals in places of power must be overthrown by the power of God in Christ Jesus, and we are the ones in whom God has placed the Holy Spirit, Who alone can bring the type of transformation needed. The devil is not hiding behind any bush, he is right out in the open.