Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

Have you ever been around someone who was never disciplined as a child? They are spoiled and rotten. They have no clue about what normal life is like and they have never learned how to deal with not having their own way. When problems come they seem surprised that anything should happen to them; they cannot accept the consequence of their own actions!

When I was in school, the consequence of not studying for a quiz usually meant that I did not do very well on that quiz. At work when I did not totally follow the paperwork, I screwed up and and had to get help to redo what I had messed up. I learned through the consequences of my actions. I, however, do not want to suffer the consequences of my sin. Eternal death and everlasting separation from God is more terrible than anything else that I could imagine. Fortunately for me, Christ decided to pay my penalty for me, and that made me Gods. Because I am now God's everything I do reflects on Him. When what I do does not follow His laws for my life, His decisions, or goes against Him, He loves me enough that He punishes me to drive the lesson home. He doesn't want any spoiled brats in His house. God wants all of us to be responsible and upright. On our own power we can never be righteous, but because Christ gave us His, we are holy. Do we zealously pursue uprightness then? Do we strive to please God?

We should not pursue uprightness and strive to please God because we have no desire to be punished, but instead because we love Him more than anything. I want to be grieved by sin – any sin- because it grieves God. I want to be brokenhearted because people reject Him, I want to rejoice because someone has chosen God above everything else in this world. I also would like for this to be a world-wide phenomenon among Christians. Imagine if your heart broke, not because you saw hungry children crying for food, but because you saw people ignoring God's pleas for loving your neighbor. Imagine you crying your eyes out because you heard a man blaspheme God's name and you were sorrowful for God and pitied the man who blasphemed. Imagine that you just ran up and hugged a man – dirt, sweaty, and raggedy though he is - because he was just lead to Christ. Just imagine how your life will change once you no longer fear God's discipline, but rather you love him more for the correction and you can turn around and share God's heart for this world!

The voice of God is calling
its summons in our day;
Isaiah heard in Zion,
and we now hear God say:
"Whom shall I send to succor
my people in their need?
Whom shall I send to loosen
the bonds of shame and greed?"

We heed, O Lord, your summons,
and answer: Here are we!
Send us upon your errand,
let us your servants be.
Our strength is dust and ashes,
our years a passing hour;
but you can use our weakness
to magnify your power.