It won't come as a surprise to anyone when I tell you I was spanked as a child. Discipline was treated slightly different back in the day. You might even say that Double Jeopardy was legal. If I got in trouble in school you better believe I was going to get it at home too. I believe over time people took discipline and correcting your children all wrong and because of this my generation has successfully created a weaker generation. Think about it, when did all those books on how to raise your child come out? All they had back in the 60's was the Dr Spock's Baby and Child Care; which by the way is in its 8th edition. So what changed? Today we're taught to give our children a "time out". I know you're familiar with it. A designated chair or location set aside for the sole purpose to allow your child to "sit there and think about it". We had one of those growing up too, it was called our bedroom. But, the only difference was following the thinking process we received discipline in the form of a belt or palm of the hand. I'm not saying it worked every time but I will tell you those things stuck in my mind when making decisions later.
Unfortunately things like this tend to bleed over into our spiritual lives too. There are several things we know about God. God is a loving God (1 John 4:8). He is a forgiving God (Daniel 9:9). He is a healing God (Luke 4:16-21). He is a jealous God (Deut 4:24) when it comes to your love for Him. But the one attribute we all tend to conveniently overlook, He is a just God. For some reason people tend to think God is this gullible guy who just shrugs his shoulders and tells himself, "kids will be kids". The following two paragraphs are an excerpt from AW Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy". It describes God's justice in a way that I can't.
Justice, when applied to God, describes the way God is. God's justice is not something external to Him. He is infinitely righteous within Himself. When God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to some outside criteria; some law or principle or standard outside Himself. He is simply acting like Himself in any given situation. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity. God's perfect law comes from within His own nature.
What we could not do, Messiah, clothed in our nature, did for us. At great cost to Himself, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sent His Son into this world to become our Justifier. From His infancy in Bethlehem's manger to the garden of Gethsemane, from His death on the cross to His ascension high above all the heavens, He came so that we who are unrighteous and unjust sinners can be made right in the sight of His Father. He made Messiah who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God when we are joined to Him.
God is very decisive. You might say it's either His way or the highway because His way is right...always. The truth is there's only two places you can go after you die, heaven or hell. Nowhere in the bible does it say there's a place for people who were just "ok" or did alot of good things for others. After you sit here for 1,500 years...quietly, I'll let you in. It doesn't happen that way. God cannot be with sin, it's impossible. You're either sinless or not. How do you achieve that? Through the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Christ's blood on the cross paid for our sin. That act of love on the cross is the reason we can enter into Heaven spotless and pure.
Peace...
totalheel
Unfortunately things like this tend to bleed over into our spiritual lives too. There are several things we know about God. God is a loving God (1 John 4:8). He is a forgiving God (Daniel 9:9). He is a healing God (Luke 4:16-21). He is a jealous God (Deut 4:24) when it comes to your love for Him. But the one attribute we all tend to conveniently overlook, He is a just God. For some reason people tend to think God is this gullible guy who just shrugs his shoulders and tells himself, "kids will be kids". The following two paragraphs are an excerpt from AW Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy". It describes God's justice in a way that I can't.
Justice, when applied to God, describes the way God is. God's justice is not something external to Him. He is infinitely righteous within Himself. When God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to some outside criteria; some law or principle or standard outside Himself. He is simply acting like Himself in any given situation. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity. God's perfect law comes from within His own nature.
What we could not do, Messiah, clothed in our nature, did for us. At great cost to Himself, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sent His Son into this world to become our Justifier. From His infancy in Bethlehem's manger to the garden of Gethsemane, from His death on the cross to His ascension high above all the heavens, He came so that we who are unrighteous and unjust sinners can be made right in the sight of His Father. He made Messiah who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God when we are joined to Him.
God is very decisive. You might say it's either His way or the highway because His way is right...always. The truth is there's only two places you can go after you die, heaven or hell. Nowhere in the bible does it say there's a place for people who were just "ok" or did alot of good things for others. After you sit here for 1,500 years...quietly, I'll let you in. It doesn't happen that way. God cannot be with sin, it's impossible. You're either sinless or not. How do you achieve that? Through the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Christ's blood on the cross paid for our sin. That act of love on the cross is the reason we can enter into Heaven spotless and pure.
Peace...
totalheel
