The Loving Grace of Discipline

     Our stubborn will and sin nature are no match for God’s discipline, if we are His. He will use whatever means  necessary to bring His own back to Him in humility and surrender. Is this not a comfort to you? Do you want to let your own will have it’s way without a barrier, even His harsh discipline, which keeps you safe in His hand, instead of falling into the place where men perish? Is this not a loving act for Him to stand as a brass wall between your soul and the gates of Hell? To block your entrance into the flaming pit when you were blindly running headlong towards it?
     If your will is to do His will, you are considered a man after God’s own heart, and if in innocence you become deceived, and stray, God has a promise for you: If Christ has saved you, He will also bring you back to keep you from falling into self-destruction. His discipline marks you as His own, and is one of the beautiful facets of His loving and keeping grace. But, if in prideful defiance you resist this grace, and insist on living rebelliously in opposition to His Will, you prove your own illegitimacy, and He will say,”You are none of mine. Go where you must.” And to perdition you must go; because you have chosen that.