An eternal weight...

When I was a Child I was raised in a home where discipline was almost always physical, there was no such thing as grounding or restriction of privileges at my house. When we as children acted out we were told to go pick out a switch... there was more than one time that I remember the punishment being taken to far on myself or one of my siblings, being hit with a switch to the point of bleeding is a memory hard to erase.

Recently I've met some children who are punished physically as well, and in the short time I've known them I've been appalled at the extremity with which they are spanked, and spoken down to... I am not a parent and though I don't look entirely down on the practice of spanking children, and view it as necessary at times I fully believe that it should be the last resort, there are other ways to discipline your child. It makes me thankful for Gods restraint and patience. Whenever I act out as God's child there are very real consequences to my disobedience, whether it's financial trouble, parking tickets, relationship strain or what have you, the consequences are there and can be excruciating to bear.

The main difference between the disciplinary actions of our human parents and God is that God never takes things to far, he knows when to restrain himself. He knows exactly how much we can take and exactly how much we need in order to realize the foolish sinfulness of our actions and turn back to Him.

I feel I should clarify a point here.

You are made in God's image, but that doesn't mean you are His Child.

Unless you have been given the right through belief in Christ to be His child, you are not.

You are His creation. Which is a honor, but there is no inheritance for you.

You're thinking I'm narrow minded, and you're probably right. But let me explain. Belief in God is good... "You believe there is one God, good! Even the demons believe so and they shudder." ... But in which God do you believe?

Do you believe in the god of no consequences, where everyone gets a pass into heaven regardless of their decision or lifestyle? The god where nothing you do really matters as long as your "basically a good person" where sin does not affect your eternal security?

That is no god.

Do you believe in the god of wrath, and angry old man with a blow torch ready to fry anyone who steps foot out of line, the prejudiced god who accepts only those who look a certain way or attain a certain lifestyle such as A man must have a wife and 2.5 kids who are in constant submission to his authority and if they step out of line he has free reign to beat them if he wants too, the male chauvinist god.

That is no god either.

Do you believe in the god of tradition? Nothing may ever change, we must continue to read our bibles in English spoken in 1611 grow our hair to our ankles, sing songs from dusty old books and remind the world that god loves only us, he hates the rest.

While tradition can be a good thing, scripture makes clear that "God is love" and that "God never changes" so forgive me, but if you're from the tradition where god hates the all the people of the world that are any different from you, you are very wrong.

God is a God of justice, sin must be punished and He cannot be in the presence of sin, which means that until your sins are forgiven, he cannot be around you. God is a God of love, and Jesus is the fruit of that love. Sending His only Son to die for the sins of His creation so that we may become His children through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

If you don't believe and put your trust in Jesus, then you don't know God. You are not His child. And as of right now you remain condemned.

You are not a Christian because you're white.

You are not a Christian because your grandma went to church.

You are not a Christian because you have a bible on your coffee table.

You are not a Christian because you go to church every Sunday.

If you are a Christian it is because you have put your hope fully on Christ. You have made Him the master and keeper of your life. You have ACCEPTED His forgiveness and His grace. And you are in the process of being changed into His likeness.

How can you tell if this is you?

Search your heart, and your mind what do you find there regarding Christ?
Check your fruits... look at your life and evaluate it from before you put your hope in Christ till now, do you see any change, even the smallest change?

Do you have a relationship with God? In the Old Testament Moses would go into the tent of meeting to receive instruction from God, he did this daily. When he entered the tent a cloud would descend over the entrance and there God would speak to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, Moses knew God intimately but through Christ, we can know God even better than Moses did. We as Children of God can come boldly before Him without need of shame.

Key signs of a relationship with God:

*Prayer, do you talk to Him and let Him talk to you?
*Scripture, one of the main ways God speaks to us is through His word, His word is our spiritual lifeline, through it He teaches us how to live a godly life a life that honors Him.
*Community, are you in relationship with other believers? Community is vital to the health of a believer, through communing with other Christians we receive encouragement and accountability towards our responsibility for our spiritual growth.
*Growth, are you growing in your walk with Christ or are you " a cabbage waiting for eternity" we are told by the Apostle Peter to make our calling and election sure by adding onto our faith certain virtues that are in reality supports our faith foundation, and that if we do this we will never fall. 2 Peter 1: 4-10

All of this may seems overwhelming at the moment, but think. These questions have eternal consequences. Eternal punishments or eternal rewards. Jesus did not come to save us so the we could all go to Heaven, He came to save us so that we could be with and near Him, so that we could know God as we are fully known. Heaven is going to be amazing but if God were not there it would be Hell, the definition of Hell is eternal separation from God.

My parents disciplined me in the best way they knew how, and I respect them for it. None of it was meant for my harm, but for my good. No parent takes pleasure in hurting their Child and if they do then they are no parent. God did not enjoy seeing His Son die the most excruciating death imaginable, with His likeness marred beyond the likeness of a man. But He let it happen because it would gain for us an eternal weight of glory, an ability to see God face to face because God knows that the best thing for us is Himself.