Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises but He binds up, He wounds, but His hands make whole. For I the Lord have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of your iniquities. (Job 5:17,18. Jeremiah 30:14)

Jesus paid for our sins but if we choose to stay in a known course of sin, there are consequences. The price Jesus paid freed us from the slavery of sin, but we can always choose go back into slavery. The subject of chastening by God is avoided by the church today. Preachers skip around this issue and make up their own doctrines concerning God’s chastening. An easy listening gospel preaches that we never need to repent, that we never need to confess our sins to God and that God never disciplines His children. This theology is giving birth to confusion and powerlessness. The word of God clearly speaks about how God chastens His children and the blessings attached to repentance.

The word of God was mostly written by men who were Jewish or converted Jews. They wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with a Hebrew mind and that Hebrew mind understood that just like a coin has two sides, so does God. He is one God that encompasses all the love, mercy and kindness that was demonstrated on the cross and He is also a God who chastens and disciplines out of love. He is just and fair. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. He took all this so we would be free from living in sin. If we do choose to live in sin, there is hope in turning to Jesus in repentance.

Don’t despise the chastening of the Almighty, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son. (Hebrews 12:6).

God’s discipline demonstrates His love as well as His mercy and grace. We get to choose through our actions which demonstration of love is administered to us.

Pastor Michael Cannatello

TMMC-The Ministry of Michael Cannatello