Needless Pain

Thursday, December 8, 2016

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My dad was a tenderhearted man. If he was around when we had to discipline our daughter, he left the room. He knew she needed it, but he just couldn't stand to be there for it. I had a little of that feeling at one point when our son had one of those defining disciplinary moments with our then three-year-old granddaughter over a piece of gum. We were in the car and our little girl had been chewing some gum, and she was starting to fall asleep. Mommy told her to spit out her gum so she wouldn't choke on it when she went to sleep. This little girl, who is amazingly well-behaved because of her parents' really fair and consistent discipline, chose to defy her Mother on this one. It's funny the battles they choose, isn't it? She wasn't going to relinquish her gum.

Daddy reinforced Mommy's order from the driver's seat. The more she was told to do it, the more defiant she got. It wasn't about gum, of course; the gum had to taste totally flat by this time. It was about her having her way no matter what. Well, Daddy threatened to ban chewing gum for a while. It didn't matter. Then he threatened to pull the car over and give her a spanking. (His spankings are kind but they're firm). Still no backing down on the gum. Finally, Daddy had no other responsible choice but to pull over, get out of the car with our little granddaughter and enforce the law. Afterwards, he hugged her, he reassured her of his love and Mommy's love, but the showdown over obeying...that was intense. Nobody was having fun, believe me. And no piece of gum could be that good.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Needless Pain."

As the showdown over getting rid of that gum escalated; as the price for disobeying got higher and higher, I thought, "Is that piece of gum really worth going through all of this?" Then I thought, "How many times has God looked at me and said the same thing? ‘Ron, why won't you obey Me on this? Is it really worth all the pain you're going through because you won't do what I say?'" We're all stubborn children, even when the Father we're defying is God Himself.

God's way is always the best way for us-the path of ultimate peace and joy and satisfaction and no regrets. But many of us have these showdown issues with God over something we refuse to let go of or we refuse to change. Maybe there's something in your life like that right now. You know God isn't happy with what you're doing or with the way you've let someone or something become more important to you than He is.

So the loving process described in Hebrews 12, beginning with verse 5 kicks in. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "The Lord disciplines those He loves...God disciplines us for our good...No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

God loves you enough to discipline you when you're out of bounds. Maybe you're blaming the pain you're going through on the devil or on circumstances when, in fact, maybe your Heavenly Father is just trying to get your attention. And the more you defy Him, the more He has to increase the pain so you'll get the point.

It could be the pain you're going through right now is needless pain-pain which will actually stop at a time of your choosing when you finally give in and do it God's way. Whatever you have to stop, whatever you have to drop, whatever you have to fix, whatever you have to change, it's worth it to finally have God's full blessing along with His peace and His joy again.

And, you know, it may be that God has been turning up the heat simply because He knows how lost you have been without your relationship with Him. Often He will simply drive us by the storm into the port and the harbor of the love of Christ, expressed when He died on the cross to pay for your sin, walked out of His grave under His own power, and right now a lot of what you've been experiencing is to drive you into the arms of your Savior.

If you've never begun a relationship with this Jesus, who will walk through every dark valley of your life with you; you'll never be alone again. I invite you to our website, ANewStory.com where many people have found how they can discover a relationship with Him.

In a defiant little girl I saw myself, and maybe she's a picture of someone who's listening, too. Knowing what your Father has told you to do, stubbornly refusing to do it, experiencing ever more painful consequences, going through so much needless pain over something that just isn't worth it. It's time to obey and then experience again the enveloping, loving hug of your Heavenly Father. Come on back home.

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