Chastisement and Love

​Good morning. There is a joy that comes with knowing another opportunity lies in front of us to practice the love of God. I am often reminded that this life is just a dress rehearsal for the life to come.  We are practicing each day to live forever with our Savior. The great Director allows us to get our lines right, to reshoot the scene until we get it right. Although that may be an expensive undertaking, the result of this is well worth the investment. 

I was scanning over our morning devotions and then realized that the real theme of the bible from Genesis to Revelation is Love. Yes, I knew that, but the intensity that He has been showing us how to love is overwhelming.  We recognize God is love and that God loves his children. We know God so loved the world, and God wants us to love our neighbor. Furthermore, we have learned love is not an emotion, and it does not come cheap. Yes, though I have not mentioned it, love comes with a cost. 

Today I want to talk about one verse in Revelation that challenged my view of love many years ago. Revelation 3:19 KJ2000 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore, and repent.” The challenge with this verse is the point of rebuke and chastisement. Some may identify with what I’m about to discuss because we are taught that any chastisement or rebuke is a sign of dislike or even rejection. The fear that rejection produces can cause us to seek solitude within ourselves. We isolate ourselves from the hurt of not being good enough for our God or for those who would chasten us. We constantly want to prove ourselves worthy to others and even to God, but that trail leads to continual disappointment.  

Now, before we go any further, this is not a platform to promote abuse or justify wrong actions caused by a sinful world. Remember, that was a challenge to me because of my views.  I compared the incorrect chastisement of my childhood to a God that was always waiting for me to correct that which caused me harm. When my view of understanding that His correction came with freedom and not condemnation, it made the difference. 

Let us take this in context today as not a value of our worth (because the cost paid for us has already occurred), nor discipline because of rejection or hate. Let us view this as a loving Creator protecting us from the consequences of our actions and the rejection we encounter from those who themselves have been hurt. Behind ‘with as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten’, comes the answer of the garnered love we all seek. BE ZEALOUS THEREFORE, AND REPENT.  I hear the jail cells opening this morning and the chains falling off. Like Paul and Silas in the prison, today the earth is being shaken and everyone behind the bars is set free. 

The power of being zealous to repent goes with knowing the chastisement is not a bad thing, but a thing that puts us back on the right path. We have been discussing this journey, so let’s walk away with two points of enlightenment. First, on this journey when we make a wrong turn, the love of the Father is there to direct us to get us back on course in the form of a rebuke or correction. This will help us realize that He is on the path with us watching our every move and thereby experiencing all we experience without abandoning us. 

The second and most important thing to take away from this is, as we are created in His image, we must recognize that when we repent it washes, it cleans and removes a spot that is not like Him. That rebuke is not a signal of rejection, but one that should get us to embrace that undying love that assures us that He did not forsake us. That beloved makes all the difference. 

Let’s receive the challenge of love today and as we receive a rebuke, be encouraged that the earth is about to shake, and your prison doors are opening. Freedom comes not by avoiding your trial but by going through the trial, singing, and praising just as Paul and Silas did.

Have a great weekend, be encouraged, and be zealous to repent. Zealous – passionate, great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause.  The cause we pursue in our repentance is to stay the course of love.  God bless you, my beloved.