Legitimate Sons and Daughters

Tony and I are going to a church called Cornerstone here in Anchorage. We absolutely love it and are so excited to get to walk in community with a new church body. The Pastor at Cornerstone gave a sermon on Sunday that powerfully changed my outlook on the Lord, my life, and daily sanctification.

As the church is studying Romans, they are focusing on what it looks like when believers are in union with Christ. As believers, we live in a paradox. We can live in POWER over our sin, but at the same time, we live in a world where the enemy can tempt us. There is a constant battle taking place between our spirit that longs to walk in oneness with the Lord and in obedience, and our flesh which is tempted by sin.

The most striking part of the sermon for me was in the idea of discipline. Most often, when we go through a deeply painful or unbelievably difficult or trying circumstance, we want to scream,“Why God? Don't you love me? Don't you see my need? Why are you putting me through this?”

God answers this question in Hebrews. This verse completely rocked me to the core:

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as SONS. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are ILLEGITIMATE children and NOT SONS.”

Hebrews 12: 7-8

There is that lonely feeling in times of need. We need our Father, our Lord, where is He? This verse puts into perspective that question. The mere fact that we are going through a difficult circumstance PROVES that we are HIS sons and daughters, His most loved ones. In fact, as Hebrews says, if you are not going through trials, you are illegitimate children and NOT SONS.

In times of adversity, we start to think we don't know the Lord, that He has left us. But the very opposite is true. The fact that you are struggling is proof positive that God is working in your life. It is so easy to let the problem in our life get bigger and bigger to the point where we cannot see truth. We have to continually remind ourselves to take our eyes off of the problem and back to the Word.

I love what it says if you continuing reading Hebrews:

“Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for OUR GOOD, that we may SHARE HIS HOLINESS. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been TRAINED by it.”

Hebrews 12: 9-11

God offers us life, and life abundantly. Beautiful, free, grace-filled, rich, eternal life. The Father we serve is the Creator of the Universe and everything in it- our lives, our bodies, our spirits, everything we can see and imagine and everything we can't comprehend. As this verse puts it, He is the Father of the SPIRITS. He is in charge of an entire dimension of the world that we can't see- the world of the spirits. So when we are going through something, we can TRUST Him.

This is the most amazing part that we always forget- it is for OUR GOOD, that we may SHARE IN HOLINESS. We serve a God who wants us to SHARE in His holiness! While trials are painful, they produce righteousness. God is using the hard things in our lives to mold us and shape us to look more holy, to look more like Christ! 

We will always be tempted by sin and as long as we are living in this world, the enemy will whisper lies to us. Sanctification is the process by which we are becoming more and more holy every day. In the most painfully bitter times, We can put our HOPE in the Father of the spirits, who commands our life with a purpose for our GOOD. 

All Praise Be to You, Father, for the trials in our lives. Help me to remember it is for YOUR glory and my GOOD!

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