Revelation 3:19 (NIV): Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Nobody likes to be rebuked, to have their wrongdoing exposed and pointed out to them. Yet every parent understands the need to confront their children with their wrongs and sins as soon as they are discovered. If they don’t, the children will continue to run in the tracks of evil, and will only get worse and worse.
God has always lovingly disciplined His people when they have sinned. His intention initially is to show us where we have gone wrong; to speak to our hearts with conviction, giving us an opportunity to repent – to turn away from the sin and to turn fully toward Him again – before the sin takes root in our hearts. If we do not respond, more drastic measures become necessary. He will bring the sin into the open, so that it will be clearly seen. The opportunity to repent is still there, though at this stage there will likely be other consequences for the sin. If we still will not repent, the consequences will continue to accrue. Ultimately, the hardness of our hearts will cut off our communion with God. He will leave us to our own devices, giving us over to our sin and depravity, until we hit bottom, when some will finally turn back to God.
Some of us who are on the receiving end of God’s conviction and discipline seem to think that the unpleasant things that He brings or allows into our lives when we sin is a sign that He doesn’t love us. Actually, the opposite is true! They are a sign of God’s abiding love for us, even in the face of our rebellion, our spiritual adultery against Him. Because God wants His people to be holy and pure, solely devoted to Him in every area of our lives so that we can spend all eternity in His presence, He rebukes us when we sin; He disciplines us when we rebel; He puts us through the fire to purify and refine us. If God merely left us alone in our sins, THAT would be the sign of an uncaring heart – it would mean that it didn’t matter to Him if we ended up in hell. But it does matter. It makes a massive difference to God that those He loves, those He died for, should end up suffering eternally, separated from Him by our sins. So, as a caring parent, God rebukes, He disciplines, He reproves, all in an effort to get us to change our direction before we are lost. Our job is to be earnest in our own spiritual development, and to repent at His first rebuke.
Father, it is easy for us to see as parents that rebuke and discipline are actually signs of love. Give us soft hearts, Lord, hearts that immediately respond to the gentlest rebuke with sincere repentance, so that nothing more drastic will be required. Amen.