[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

If you were like I, you have perhaps thought that God is super-strict with you.From time to time I do think that. I don’t think I have committed a grave sin; I just did something not praiseworthy but it was not too bad. Suddenly God just did something to punish me. I complained because to me, He didn’t have to do it. He should have let me get away with it because it was after all not a big deal.

In his book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer equates us, children of God, with royal children in this world. He says, royal children have to go through “extra training and discipline, which other children escape, in order to fit them for their destiny. It is the same with the children of the King of Kings . . . . throughout their lives He is training them for what awaits them, and chiseling them into the image of Christ.”

I am sure you who are parents can understand this well. We get really angry at our children for doing something wrong or bad. Perhaps they think that it is unfair for them to receive that much wrath from us while other kids do not receive even half of what they get from us. That’s true, it’s not fair but here lies the answer: We are angry at our children because we love them too much that we don’t want them end up on the wrong side of the fence in life.

God is angry the most at His children for the same reason. He loves us too much that He just doesn’t want to see us waste not only our lives but also His grace and what He has in store for us. That’s the reason He never stops purifying us again and again; He wants us to stand as far away from sin as possible. A little sin is enough to arouse His anger. He has made us His royal children and He plans on keeping us as that till He comes again. So, whenever He disciplines us, just remember that we’re His royal children.

Pastor Paul[:id]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

If you were like I, you have perhaps thought that God is super-strict with you. From time to time I do think that. I don’t think I have committed a grave sin; I just did something not praiseworthy but it was not too bad. Suddenly God just did something to punish me. I complained because to me, He didn’t have to do it. He should have let me get away with it because it was after all not a big deal.

In his book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer equates us, children of God, with royal children in this world. He says, royal children have to go through “extra training and discipline, which other children escape, in order to fit them for their destiny. It is the same with the children of the King of Kings . . . . throughout their lives He is training them for what awaits them, and chiseling them into the image of Christ.”

I am sure you who are parents can understand this well. We get really angry at our children for doing something wrong or bad. Perhaps they think that it is unfair for them to receive that much wrath from us while other kids do not receive even half of what they get from us. That’s true, it’s not fair but here lies the answer: We are angry at our children because we love them too much that we don’t want them end up on the wrong side of the fence in life.

God is angry the most at His children for the same reason. He loves us too much that He just doesn’t want to see us waste not only our lives but also His grace and what He has in store for us. That’s the reason He never stops purifying us again and again; He wants us to stand as far away from sin as possible. A little sin is enough to arouse His anger. He has made us His royal children and He plans on keeping us as that till He comes again. So, whenever He disciplines us, just remember that we’re His royal children.

Pastor Paul[:]