Chastening of the Lord

Romans 8

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

I am not sure if I am the most qualified person to write about this topic, but I feel it on my heart to share what I know. So, what is the chastening of the Lord? It is the correcting of bad behavior in the life of a believer. I have struggled to find much about the chastening of the Lord. It seems to be a pretty taboo subject. It has the potential to clear out a church congregation pretty quickly. Most people go to church to here how God wants to bless them, not how he will potentially take everything they have and destroy their life. The price of sin is very high, please let me explain.

For the unsaved person their life is their own. They have free will to do as they please, so does the believer in Christ. The difference is that the unbeliever is not corrected for their sin, while the believer is. The unbeliever is a child of the devil and not a child of God. You become a child of God when you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because these people are the children of the devil and not of God, God is not their father and he has no say over there life. Thus is the appeal of rejecting God. A life spent for self, indulging in pleasure, filled with pride, and arrogance. Being god in their own mind and hopefully in the minds of others. A life unabated by God. It is a seductive trap to fall into and we are all susceptible to it. That life appeals to our carnal fleshly nature, and it feels good. It feels good being puffed up and admired by people for our sinful accomplishments. It feels good indulging in carnal pleasures of the flesh. Unfortunately there is a price to pay for this. These godless people have not been let off the hook. Gods anger rages fierce towards these people, and when they die that is the moment there punishment begins. It is beyond anything imaginable in this life and it goes on into eternity, with no mercy. A very scary thought.

I must admit this sinful life style was once all I cared about. I wanted it desperately, and for a little while I got it (roughly 4 years after being saved at age 14), or at least a taste. Yes I was believer living for this world and it was fairly easy. I could more or less come and go as I please and there was little repercussion. I actually was coming up in the world and was feeling so grateful to be alive. All my dreams were right in front of me and I was filled with hope and joy. Then....... it all changed, in one night. My life was shattered with no warning, no where to run too, no answers. An unexplainable, humiliating, debilitating problem that left my life destroyed. God chastened me for the life I was living, and I did not know what was going on. I was to biblically ignorant. All my "friends" would turn on me. My peers laughed in my face and slandered my name. My precious reputation was destroyed never to be returned again. A life time of work gone in the blink of an eye. Did I change my ways? NO! I was a disobedient child who wanted things my way. I sheltered myself from the world and resorted to drinking alone, looking at pornography, and indulging vile perversions that afflict me to this day! My life was hell on earth so to speak, the exact opposite of what it had been before. I developed rage and hatred for God, that I still struggle with. I would eventually come into obedience with god, then fall away back into sin. I did this a few times until I finally submitted to God. I has been over 21 years now that I have been afflicted. I was on the brink of suicide before I finally submitted. I now do my best to live for the Lord, and walk in righteousness. The scars I bare run deep, and I suffer from mental illnesses, but I have faith that god will heal me in time. I have many bad days, where I rage against God, I am not the man Job was, anything but. I know my prayers will be answered in time, if I keep the faith and live a Godly life.

I as well as all believers have the blessed assurance of salvation. When the child of God dies they wake up in paradise. A place that is beyond anything this world can know. The believer and the unbeliever are very much opposites in this regard. Pray for these people to get saved. I will leave you with the Gospel of grace. God Bless

I Corinthians 15

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: