Punishment vs. Chastisement

There is a difference between God's punishment and His chastisement. I feel like I've known this, but never really recognized it is there and what it is. I listened to a short podcast by A.W. Pink - "Correcting in Love - Not Smiting in Wrath!" the other day, and it explained this so well. Basically all of this comes from him, not me. Any quote is from Pink, and basically I'm summarizing what he said. Just so credit is given where it is due. 


First of all, Christians will never be punished by God.

God's people can never, by any possibility, be punished for their sins, for God has already punished them [sins] at the cross. The Lord Jesus, our blessed substitute, suffered the full penalty of our guilt. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Neither the justice nor the love of God will permit Him to again exact payment of what Christ discharged to the full.

Since Christ took the punishment for our sins once and for all, those who've placed their trust in Him will not be punished for them. 


Pink gave three differences between divine punishment and divine chastisement.
A. The character in which God acts

1. Punishment - God acts as Judge.
2. Chastisement- God acts as Father. Christians are considered sons of God, so there is a Parent-child relationship between the two. As God's children, we must be disciplined for wrongdoing. As I learned through a couple of my major (teacher ed) classes, discipline is not punishment. Discipline is training - rules are given and consequences come when a person is not compliant. The purpose of discipline is the correction/bettering of the person being disciplined. God's chastisement of His sons and daughters is disciplinary, not penal.

B. The receipts of each.

1. The objects of the former (punishment) are His enemies. Again, God is acting as Judge.
2. The subjects of the latter (chastisement) are His children. Again, God is acting as Father.

C. The design of each.

1. Retributive. Flows from His anger. "Divine punishment is never sent for the good of unrepentant sinners, but for the honoring of God’s law and the vindicating of His government."
2. Remedial. Flows from His love. "Divine chastisement is sent for the well-being of His children."

Then Pink proceeded to talk about God's chastisement. He said it flows from His goodness and faithfulness. It evidences our sonship and shows that He is working for our good. Often, His chastisements 

are sent to empty us of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness.They are given to discover to us hidden transgressions and to teach us the plague of our own hearts. [They] are sent to strengthen our faith, to raise us to higher levels of experience, to bring us into a condition of usefulness.

He summarized by saying that we can be thankful for His chastisement. He said that we need to learn to see it as "proof of God's love - purging, pruning, and purifying you." Anyway, this is something I learned and thought might be good to share. Hopefully you understand it better, just as I did.

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." C.S. Lewis

Blessings

I keep seeing this song, Blessings by Laura Story, popping up everywhere on facebook. After about ten different friends of mine posted this link, I figured I should check it out. I have her first album and have really enjoyed it and been encouraged by it. But for some reason it was like I needed convincing to listen to this song. And man is it powerful! You should definitely listen to it right now. 

If you want the lyrics, you can see them here,

One of my favorite lines comes at the end of the chorus:

"What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise"

It's funny, because yesterday Trevor said a very similar thing to me, addressing a certain trial. But it's so true. Sometimes we have hard times and we fail to see that it's for our good.

Anyway, you really need to listen to this! And look at the lyrics. This is such a good song.

"Show me Thy ways
Teach me Thy path
Free me from all of my sin
Trusting in You is so easy to do
When I see You as You really are

As You really are [God and King]
As You really are [Lord of everything]
As You really are
Help me to see You as You really are
As You really are [risen and living]
As You really are [just, yet forgiving]
As You really are
Help me to see You as You really are"

Valley of Vision - A Prayer of Confession and Petition

"Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to see Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power."

So thankful I found this. It was exactly what I needed to read this afternoon. So many other sins can stem from a "failure to find [His] mind in [His] Word" and "neglect to see [Him] in my daily life." So thankful for God's grace that is more abundant than sin (Rom 5:20). Also thankful that my sins "will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ."

The song Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken was new to me when I came to college. It's an old hymn written by Henry Lyte. The melody we use is different from the original though, and was written by Indelible Grace (I think?). Each verse is extremely convicting/encouraging/just thought-provoking in general. Seriously, if you haven't heard this song or do not know it very well, look it up! The version by Enfield is my favorite. 

Again, each verse is packed with truth. But here's one that is particularly challenging at times. It was pointed out sometime in chapel, or dorm chapel, or college group at my church, or something. But whoever was leading music pointed this verse out and reminded us of its meaning, which I will elaborate on after writing it out:

"Soul, then know thy full salvation

Rise o'er sin and fear and care

Joy to find in every station

Something still to do or bear

Think what Spirit dwells within thee

Think what Father's smiles are thine

Think that Jesus died to win thee

Child of heaven, canst thou repine?"

I'm mainly going to focus on the last 4 lines of it [though the whole thing is good]. As Christians, we can find joy in every part of life. No matter what we're going through, there is joy to be had. If it seems hard to find joy, then think about this: 

You have the Spirit of God dwelling within you, giving you all the fruits of the Spirit (including joy!), discipling you, strengthening your faith, encouraging you, convicting you of sin, comforting you, and showing your more about your awesome God. 

You also have a Father in heaven who loves you enough to kill His perfect, righteous Son so that you too can be adopted into His family; He is the creator of the universe yet cares about the minute details of your life; He now sees you as righteous because you've confessed and forsaken your sin, clinging to Christ who died in your place; He looks at you and smiles lovingly at you, no matter how many times you fail. 

You also have Jesus Christ, who GAVE UP HIS LIFE for you and DIED IN YOUR PLACE. He left heaven, where He was worshiped by angels and had the ability to be with His Father to come down to earth; while here he was: born in a stable, forced to flee with His parents as a baby because the king wanted Him dead, the perfect brother (with unperfect siblings...imagine how they must have felt when compared to Him by their parents...probably weren't always nice to Him), and as an adult He was called drunk and a glutton, misunderstood by family and neighbors, didn't always have a place to rest His head, was considered blasphemous and hated by the leaders of Judaism, mocked, used for free food and free healing, mistreated by so many. That was before the end of His ministry. When that came, He: was betrayed by one of His 12 disciples and abandoned by the rest of them, suffered a great deal, knowing the wrath He would endure - enough that He literally sweat blood - also enough to almost kill Him. He was mocked, beaten, scourged, spit upon, had a crown of thorns rammed into His head, and was completely unrecognizable - BEFORE the cross. Also before the cross, He, the holy Son of God, was tried by wicked men and found blameless. But because of their fear of man, He was still killed. While on the cross, He (Son of God, also the King of kings and Lord of lords), humbled Himself to die the death of the common criminal - literally the most humiliating and most excruciatingly painful thing possible. Worst of all, the SINLESS Lamb was made to endure the wrath of God towards ALL sin that had ever been or would ever be committed by everyone. But He voluntarily did this - for you! Why? Because He loves us, and because He was obedient to His Father.

You have all of that. "Child of heaven, canst thou repine?" I looked up "repine" in my Webster's dictionary app. It is defined as "to feel or express dejection or discontent : complain." You have ALL of that, can you even complain about the small (or even big) things that you face in life? We really shouldn't. He is the reason we should not complain. He is the reason we have joy in all things.

Once again, my mother is right!

Lately I have really been convicted of my ungrateful heart and always complaining attitude. I say that I know I have everything I need and most of everything I want too. I can easily sing things about Christ being "more than enough", but do I always mean it? No. 

It's summer vacation for me (!!) now. But my last week of school and ever since, the weather has not acted summer-ish. It's been cold, cloudy and often rainy. Instead of enjoying some days of chilly weather right before the hot summer I know is coming begins, I complain. I wished that it was prettier so I could go to the beach during my last days in southern California. I wanted be able to tan every day when I first got home. Instead, God's had other plans for the weather. And we are called to rejoice and be thankful in every circumstance. Have I been doing that? Not really.

I didn't really see this as a problem, or as sin. I just knew what I wanted (sunny, gorgeous weather), saw that I didn't have it, and whined. Then yesterday I saw my mom's facebook status. It said, "I have not lost my home to earthquakes, a tsunami, a tornado, or flooding. So I will NOT whine about a few days of clouds and patchy drizzle...." Ouch. Even from 3,000 miles away she has reminded me of important truth. I am so blessed to have a home and have all of my belongings safe and dry. Not everyone has that right now. Nightly I read the news on my handy fox news app, and have seen article after article on the devastation in places like Mississippi. I haven't been faithful to pray for those people suffering, or even really been interested enough to care. Instead, I'd whined about not getting to sunbathe? It's so selfish.

I am so grateful for my mom who posted that and reminded so man people to not focus on and complain about our slightly disappointing circumstances when other have it so much worse.

Thanks Mom! :)