It can be troubling to see how some when they hear about the grace of God have a tendency to think that now they can do whatever they wish because all consequences have been removed.
Nothing could be further from the truth and this line of thinking reveals deception at a great depth in ones life. Grace never rids us of the responsibility, or the consequences of choice.
My teenage son had to receive instruction and correction this morning for not acting responsibly. I asked him if he enjoyed being told what to do all the time. I assume his answer would be the answer of every teen around the world, he responded by saying, "of course not." I responded by calmly telling him that his mother and I do not enjoy having to bring these things to his attention any more than he enjoys hearing it, but it is a consequence of his not acting responsibly. If he would weigh his decisions before acting and choose the proper thing in the moment we would not be forced to bring to his attention how much he is squandering his time and rushing towards consequences he will not find pleasurable. This momentary conflict that arises out of disobedience did not take away his right of being my son nor did it remove from him my love for him. Thus my desire to bring to him correction and instruction. If I did not care it would not matter and I would allow him to pass on and be punished in life by someone without mercy.
Likewise God the Father chastises those who are His children. He loves us so He instructs us a disciplines us in this life for our good. He adjusts and corrects us and often He does so through the process of consequences. Grace does not come to us to enable us to sin or misbehave and never suffer consequences. It will enable us to choose right and avoid the consequences of disobedience and irresponsibility.
It will always be there to enable us to maintain right relationship with God and have open access to the throne of grace in our time of need. We all will need this access in life. None of us do perfectly. But perhaps if we were to allow the work of grace to instruct us towards the consequences of our choices and thus lead us towards greater responsibility we might find ourselves chastised less by the Father in our walk with Him.
God's grace in our lives is so rich that it even seeks to encourage us in our chastisement. The Scripture says that the Father chastises those whom He loves! So, I encourage you today to realize that if you are currently under His chastisement know that you are loved by your Father in heaven and learn from your mistake. His allowing difficulty to arise in your life from poor choices you may have made is His love being shown to you. He will not leave you undone. But, next time, simply choose differently, I think it might make the process much more pleasant.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
