The Christian
life is a race, a long race. Like all races it must be run to the
end. Thus, one of the great attributes required of Christians is
endurance. No one who has run the race for long needs to be told that.
The need for endurance is quickly evident. There's nothing easy or
short term about living a life that glorifies God. It is the most
difficult, demanding race. And there is another truth related to
endurance that we often overlook. God teaches us endurance through
discipline.
And discipline isn't always because someone has sinned--though it can be. But remember that God was very angry with Job's friends because they insisted that His discipline of Job was because of sin in Job's life. God said they didn't understand who He was or what He was like. So when you see a believer going through tough times--times of discipline--don't suppose that sin is the cause. Such a conclusion is not just a false judgment of the believer's character, it's also an affront to God and His character. It's implying that something is true about God that is not true. We call that blasphemy.
No, God disciplines His children because they are His children. He is training them--exercising their faith--because He knows that the race is long and difficult, and that they will have need of endurance. And you don't build endurance through having it easy. Can you imagine a marathon runner preparing for a race, building his endurance, by sitting in a chair reading a book? Even reading a book on running and how to build up one's endurance would do him no good whatsoever when race time rolled around. The same is true for our spiritual race. We can read all about running our race well and the need for endurance in the Manual--and we should--but unless we are made to put those things into practice in real life tests of our faith, we will be poor runners indeed. We must understand that God puts us through times of discipline not because He wants us to quit, but because He wants us to build up the needed endurance so that we can't be stopped. He causes us to limp in the middle of the race so that we have the endurance we need to finish strong.
The danger, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, is that we let the limp become a broken leg and stop running. The end result of that is bitterness. And bitterness is a contagious disease of the soul. The bitterness we express toward God because of the discipline He has brought into our lives to make us more like Him spreads quickly to those around us that we love. And no spiritual disease is more difficult to heal than the cancer of a bitter heart.
How do we defeat bitterness? Not by stopping the race and claiming that we'll start running again once the limp is gone. No, the limp is only healed as we continue on the race toward home. God doesn't take us out of the trial, He takes us through it. And we don't defeat bitterness by running around saying how much we love the discipline. Sorrow is not a sin when facing difficult tests. God expects it. He doesn't condemn it. He was "a man of sorrows and a 'friend' of grief." But the sorrow mustn't stop us. You can run the race with tears flowing down your face. No, bitterness is defeated and God's loving discipline is embraced when as the writer of Hebrews says, "we make our paths straight." And how do we do that, you ask? Solomon tells us: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." To allow the discipline to do its work--"to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness"--we must trust His love by loving Him through consistent obedience; we must submit to His wisdom as the all-wise God, too wise to make a mistake; we must continue to say the right things about who He is--our loving Father who always has our best interests at heart, our best interests for this life as well as the glorious one to come. And then, He promises us as the God who cannot lie, that He will make our paths straight. The time of discipline will pass, the limp will be healed, and we will be stronger spiritually than we have ever been before--because we will be more like Him. We will be able to run the race with joy, right up to the finish line, right up to the moment when we burst through the tape at the end of the race and fall into the arms of our waiting Savior. And hear these words: "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
And discipline isn't always because someone has sinned--though it can be. But remember that God was very angry with Job's friends because they insisted that His discipline of Job was because of sin in Job's life. God said they didn't understand who He was or what He was like. So when you see a believer going through tough times--times of discipline--don't suppose that sin is the cause. Such a conclusion is not just a false judgment of the believer's character, it's also an affront to God and His character. It's implying that something is true about God that is not true. We call that blasphemy.
No, God disciplines His children because they are His children. He is training them--exercising their faith--because He knows that the race is long and difficult, and that they will have need of endurance. And you don't build endurance through having it easy. Can you imagine a marathon runner preparing for a race, building his endurance, by sitting in a chair reading a book? Even reading a book on running and how to build up one's endurance would do him no good whatsoever when race time rolled around. The same is true for our spiritual race. We can read all about running our race well and the need for endurance in the Manual--and we should--but unless we are made to put those things into practice in real life tests of our faith, we will be poor runners indeed. We must understand that God puts us through times of discipline not because He wants us to quit, but because He wants us to build up the needed endurance so that we can't be stopped. He causes us to limp in the middle of the race so that we have the endurance we need to finish strong.
The danger, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, is that we let the limp become a broken leg and stop running. The end result of that is bitterness. And bitterness is a contagious disease of the soul. The bitterness we express toward God because of the discipline He has brought into our lives to make us more like Him spreads quickly to those around us that we love. And no spiritual disease is more difficult to heal than the cancer of a bitter heart.
How do we defeat bitterness? Not by stopping the race and claiming that we'll start running again once the limp is gone. No, the limp is only healed as we continue on the race toward home. God doesn't take us out of the trial, He takes us through it. And we don't defeat bitterness by running around saying how much we love the discipline. Sorrow is not a sin when facing difficult tests. God expects it. He doesn't condemn it. He was "a man of sorrows and a 'friend' of grief." But the sorrow mustn't stop us. You can run the race with tears flowing down your face. No, bitterness is defeated and God's loving discipline is embraced when as the writer of Hebrews says, "we make our paths straight." And how do we do that, you ask? Solomon tells us: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." To allow the discipline to do its work--"to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness"--we must trust His love by loving Him through consistent obedience; we must submit to His wisdom as the all-wise God, too wise to make a mistake; we must continue to say the right things about who He is--our loving Father who always has our best interests at heart, our best interests for this life as well as the glorious one to come. And then, He promises us as the God who cannot lie, that He will make our paths straight. The time of discipline will pass, the limp will be healed, and we will be stronger spiritually than we have ever been before--because we will be more like Him. We will be able to run the race with joy, right up to the finish line, right up to the moment when we burst through the tape at the end of the race and fall into the arms of our waiting Savior. And hear these words: "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
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