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God's discipline is just like athletic training. God sees the perfection of Christ when He looks at us. God's whole desire in redeeming us in the first place is to restore relationship with us -- to reconcile us to Him (II Cor. 5:17-21). When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are perfected in Christ spiritually. However, we still have sin habits and ways in which we do not understand God that hinder us from relating freely and fully to God. Therefore, part of the Holy Spirit's role in our lives is to sanctify us -- discipline us -- by exposing to us those areas and teaching us the truth. There is no anger or punishment involved in this process. In fact, Scripture specifically states that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, not His wrath! (Rom. 2:4) God's discipline is quite simply training.

The way God usually disciplines or trains us is through our circumstances. He allows, and even orchestrates, our circumstances so that they "fall apart" in such a way that they will expose our areas of sin or wrong belief about God to us and we will be motivated to seek the truth. He doesn't do this because He is angry. He allows natural events and/or consequences so that we will turn to Him for answers and become conformed to the image of Christ.

The reason it is so important to understand this distinction is that if we believe that God is angry at us or punishing us we tend to pull away from Him, rather than running toward Him. When we know that He is allowing events in our lives to train us because He loves us, we are more likely to immediately turn to Him and start asking what it is He wants to teach us. If we believe our circumstances are punishment we are more likely to try to "endure" them rather than realizing there's something here that God, in His goodness, wants us to learn so that we can be drawn even closer to Him. When we know His unconditional love is His motivation we are able to embrace the circumstances and view them as a precious gift from a loving Father designed to make us more like Christ -- which is what we want too! This is also why we can give thanks both in and for all circumstances.

So, is there still a place for God's wrath? After all, even the New Testament talks about God's wrath. The answer is yes. But His wrath is only directed toward those who reject Christ. (Jn. 3:36)

Understanding this basic principle about how God views His children has a radical impact on how we live our daily lives. Once we realize this, we can more easily see when a leader is walking in the flesh. (Is he an angry person, in the name of godliness? Does he justify public humiliation of those he views as "sinful"? Does he call his congregation to repentance because God is going to "punish them" if they don't get into line?) We also find our attitudes changed toward other believers who have areas of sin in their lives. If God isn't angry at them, what place do we have condemning them? Yes, their sin may require confrontation -- but God confronts in love, not anger. The Word says "For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." (James 1:20)

This understanding will also radically alter our parenting, a subject I have addressed separately in my article The Parent's Heart, click here to view.

This understanding was transforming for me. I hope that you will find it to be equally life-changing and uplifting!!

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