An Unpleasant Devotional

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 NKJV

Being chastened by the Lord is not a pleasant experience. Therefore, a devotional about His chastening isn't pleasant. However, if we are walking with Him, we know the unpleasantness of being chastened; whether we've recently stayed from the path or He has been dealing with us for years over certain issues, the Lord is going to reprove us as His children.

I have recently been reading the book of Jeremiah; it has been likened to an intervention where an individual who is on a path of destruction is being confronted by family or friends who see the train wreck his life has become. The whole point of an intervention is to encourage the one being confronted to repent, to make an about face in his thinking and to begin seeking help. The book of Jeremiah is an intervention by God confronting His chosen people in their idolatry. He uses very graphic word pictures to express His exasperation with His people because of their unfaithfulness likening their idolatry to promiscuity and adultery.

If you're like me, you find it hard to read through this book without feeling His words somehow piercing your heart.  As God calls His people out for their unfaithfulness, His words bring conviction (at least they ought to) to our hearts today. Consider the following passage I came across recently:

You should have kept your feet from going bare

and your throat from being thirsty.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless!

For I love foreign gods,

and I must go after them.’ 

Jeremiah 2:25, Emphasis mine

The bolded print is what got to me. To put that phrase in today's vernacular, the Jews are essentially telling God, "I can't help it! I've got to get this out of my system!" 

How many times have I rationalized my behavior in this way? There are times when we allow ourselves to descend knowingly into attitudes or behaviors we know are not pleasing to God. Whether it be for a brief moment or repeatedly as in a "besetting sin," we sometimes act as unfaithful Israel/Judah did when they turned their back to God and pursued their own agenda. Like them, we declare, "We love our sin!" We, especially for our pet sins, rationalize, "I'll just get this out of my system." ¿No es triste? (Is it not sad?)

As believers, have we not been identified with Christ's death? Does not that identification break the bondage of sin!? How foolish it is then, for us to say,  "I can't help it... I've got to get this out of my system!"

For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:5-14

God is faithful to us to bring His Word into our lives as correction and reproof. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, having been fully equipped toward every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

When my attitude is reflected in Jeremiah 2:25, I am convicted by God's grace through His Holy Spirit. Then I'm shown what my attitude ought to be as reflected in Romans 6. 

God's chastising work is not a pleasant subject for a devotional but it serves as a wonderful reminder of His grace and why He has saved us. May God's grace be on all of us that we would understand what Christ's work on the cross means so we don't have to be slaves to our passions.

In Him,

Arnold.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible.