Grace – Page 9 – Just Keith Harris

I’m Thankful for God’s Forgiveness — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 12

These verses are a beautiful picture of God’s forgiveness and are good reminders for those who are saved to see what the “free gift of eternal life” is in light of the “wages of [our] sin” (Romans 6:23). We are going to briefly unpack these verses, and Lord willing, you will be moved to be thankful as well.

“He does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities.” This is a beautiful example of the otherness of God. I know that term sounds weird, but when we talk about God, it is important to remember that He is not like us. This otherness is really linked to His holiness, meaning that He is entirely set apart and above us in His worth, splender, and perfection. God is God, and we are not.

Human beings deal with each other according to their sin and iniquity. If someone has wronged us or someone close to us, it is likely that we will forever treat them differently because of it. Even if we forgive, we are quick to let folks know we won’t forget. If we catch someone in a lie, they will forever be defined as a liar (even though we have been guilty of the same). The sin is a defining point for us because we don’t want to fall victim of it again. Yet God does not deal with US that way.

That “us” is very important here because it is a distinction from how others are dealt with. This is not the us v. them where we make ourselves to be righteous (Romans 3:10-12). No, this is referencing the difference between those who have believed and put their faith in God and have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9) and those who have not (John 3:18). He does not deal with “us” according to our sin because Jesus has paid for our sin (1 Peter 2:24). Our sin does not define us because He defines us based on our relationship with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21; Romans 8:1).

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him….” Here we see the otherness of God again. This is literally the 6,000 mile view, one that God sees easily from His vantage point that we might struggle with from ours. 6,214 miles above our vantage point is when the earth stops being the earth; that’s literally how high the heavens are above the earth. God’s steadfast love – His never-stopping, never-failing, never-giving-up, everlasting love – is astronomically greater than our human hearts can fathom or feature (Isaiah 55:8-9).

This qualifies the “us” from the last section because the “us” is made up of those who fear the Lord – those who follow and worship Him, those who have been saved by Him (Psalm 25:12-14). It also builds on the last section specifically because it shows that God not only has decided not to “deal with us according to our sins or repay us according to our iniquities” because He has paid the penalty for them (2 Corinthians 5:21) but did this because He loves us (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:4-5). This love is foreign to us because in our sinfulness we want to repay evil with evil, sin with sin (Matthew 5:44-45, 1 Peter 3:9). God is different. He loved us and saved us from our sin when we were still in it – when we still deserved death and hell; that “demonstrates” how much higher His love is than ours (Romans 5:8).

“…[A]s far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” I love the contrast of imagery between the atmospheric levels of love in the last section and the global stretch of His forgiveness in this one. It is really cool to see how God specifically created the earth in such a way that it illustrates this, too. If His love requires a 6,000 foot view, His forgiveness requires understanding of what infinity is. You see, if you set out westward here on earth, you will go infinitely west. West will never start being east, and vice versa. God infinitely removes our sin from us. It is gone. Period. Finito. Over with. It is finished.

When Jesus forgives, He can allow Himself to forget because when He saves us He will not lose us. The eternal life He gives is, well, eternal. The change He produces in people’s lives is continual because it stems from His love and faithfulness, not ours. So, He doesn’t have to deal with us “according to our sins” because they have been infinitely removed. They have been paid for and we cannot repossess them. He has the receipt and is not taking returns.

This is good news. It is nearly incomprehensible for us because we know the weight and evil nature of our sin (Psalm 51:3-5, Jeremiah 17:9). Yet He loved us and became the propitiation (wrath bearing sacrifice that trades the punishment due our sin for the favor due His Son) for our sin (Romans 3:23-25; 1 John 2:1-2, 4:10).

What about you? Have you experienced the forgiveness of God? Will you stand before Him and have Him see Jesus’s blood and righteousness or stand before Him in your sin?

Thank You, Lord, for offering forgiveness and salvation through Your Son Jesus.

Thank You, Lord, for Your astronomical love and the way you help us to see what You have done for us.

All through the month of November, our Christ Community Church family is focusing on what we are thankful for and expressing our thanks to our “great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us” (Titus 2:13-14).

This, like the #DailyWisdomChallenge we went through in October, is a challenge from our pastor John Goldwater — the #GRATITUDEandHOPEchallenge — where we have the opportunity to post Bible passages that move us to thanksgiving or in which we find hope. May this lead you to be grateful and find your hope in Jesus!

I’m Thankful for My Friends — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 11

Friendship is something that I hope I never take for granted. It is something that I cherish more than I can express with words because, for many years, I did not have friends – at least not many or any at all who match the quality of today’s passage.

The imagery in this verse makes me picture entering a room and smelling something that reminds me of someone. You know how that works. God created our senses so that they work together specially for different purposes. The sense of smell is linked to emotion and memory – hearing, too, to a lesser degree – in a special way that one whiff can bring on waves of nostalgia, jog a memory, take you to a certain place, or remind you of a specific person.

The “oil and perfume” here produces an emotional response or memory that makes “the heart glad”, and immediately takes that emotional reverie and ties it to the “sweetness” of a specific aspect of friendship. That aspect is the “counsel” of a friend.

Most of the time, when we think of what makes friendship sweet, “counsel” probably isn’t it. It is often the camaraderie of friendship or company. That is the counterargument that came to my mind. But God in His wisdom tells us that there is something better. This let’s us know that there is more to friendship than meets the eye – something sweeter than just what we want. God’s wisdom points us to friends who are willing to give us earnest counsel.

Now, some folks just shove their opinions in any old way. This ain’t that. Earnest counsel is advice or counsel that comes from a sincere place of intense conviction. This is not run-of-the-mill stuff but rather a rare willingness to be with people in tough times as well as good and offer help that they may not want but definitely need. This is not friendship that runs from disagreement but thrives despite it. This is friendship that loves in a way that will risk their own feelings to help the other. It is sacrificial and special.

But keep in mind that counsel is not all this sort of friendship has to offer because friendships are more than its parts. As I write this, I am still overwhelmed by a show of friendship I experienced earlier in the week. Some of my friends whom I love and cherish dearly came to surprise me at a revival service I was preaching. They all have a lot going on in their lives right now. They are all tired. They are all stretched. Yet they decided to show they care and support me – despite their tiredness and busyness. They are friends that will offer counsel when I need it because they love me. There is a sweetness there that I am not conveying in my words because it is so intangible and unexplainable. You just know it when you’ve got it. In the same way that smells or sounds jog emotions is so vivid yet often unexplainable, this sort of friendship is something you know if you’ve got it.

I’m thankful I do and hope I am half the friend they are to me.

Lord, thank you for my friends. Thank you for seeing fit to put us together and to build a bond deep enough to give needed counsel and broad enough to cover the range of emotions that our lives contain. Bless them and keep them, and help me to be such a friend to them. Amen.

I’m Thankful to Have Hope in Christ — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 9

I’m thankful to have hope in Christ!

I don’t know what I would do if I did not have assurance that Jesus loves me and has prepared a place for me. It is too easy to get distracted by all of the trouble in this world — to get burdened and downcast — to get focused on myself and difficulties, faults, and failures. But God has made a way for me.

I think about the men and women Peter wrote 1 Peter to; he called them “elect exiles in the Dispersion”, writing to Jewish Christians who had been dispersed for various reasons, including persecution, all around the NT world (1 Peter 1:1-2). Here in 1 Peter 3:15, we see Peter encouraging them to be ready (prepared) to “make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you”. Read that again. Peter wrote to people experiencing trials and tribulations and persecution and difficulties of all sorts — people who were a long way from home in foreign lands — people who had reason to be downcast and distressed and told them to be ready when people asked them why they had hope. This means that, despite their difficulties, they would not only have hope but that Jesus, their “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3), would have such an impact on their lives and their outlook that people would take notice and ask.

That’s good news!

As we saw yesterday, the hope that “has been poured out into our hearts” stems from God’s love and “does not put us to shame” (Romans 5:3-5)! That hope is in spite of our circumstances and proven through God’s faithfulness amid our circumstances.

So, tonight, whatever is bothering you or beating you down, whatever difficulties you are in the midst of (even if those difficulties won’t end today, tomorrow, or soon), know this, beloved Sojourner: this world is not our home, the troubles that plague us have an expiration date, and Christ the Lord gives us a hope that will carry us through and bring us home to Him. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take Jesus’s.

In John 16:33, Jesus was talking to His disciples on the night He was arrested, tortured, and mocked before being crucified the next day. He told them about how He would send them a Helper, His Holy Spirit, and gave them hope by telling them that He would prepare a place for them in His Father’s house and praying for them. John 16:33 falls kind of toward the middle of that conversation.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Those words give me hope. Peter was there that night, and the hope Jesus offered clearly impacted him as he wrote all those years later to dispersed believers dealing with trouble. I hope they help you as well. I hope you find hope in the fact that He has already overcome the world, your troubles, and made a way for those He loves.

I’m Thankful God Gives Hope in the Midst of Suffering — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 8

I’m thankful to God for giving hope in the midst of suffering.

Sometimes, we can be fooled into thinking that being thankful is all about happy things, but the joy we have in Jesus is not because we have no sorrow and trials but despite our sorrow and trials.

The way Paul talks about this in Romans 5 bridges the hope we have in Jesus to Him being “justified by faith” in Him (Romans 5:1). There is a peace that comes through Him saving us — a peace that settles eternal matters and gives a necessary eternal perspective on troubling temporal (and sometimes temporary) matters (Romans 5:2).

That does not make the temporal or temporary suffering easy, though. It just reminds us Whose hands we are in, Who has taken care of our future, and how He will carry us through to the end. The progression in Romans 5:3-5 illustrates this.

For those who are in Christ, suffering produces endurance because He will carry us through; His strength is enough to endure whatever we need to get through. Enduring through His strength produces godly character because more time spent with Him and being carried by Him makes us reliant on Him and grow more like Him. Becoming more like Him gives us hope because we are used to looking to Him — now not just in trouble but in everything. And looking to Him in everything is not shameful because that is how we are designed; we were never meant to be self-reliant but Christ-reliant!

So, today, has plenty of trouble. Our lives here on earth are full of troubles and suffering. The longer we live, the more those can multiply. But the longer we walk with Christ, the more we realize that He carries us through. In that good news, there is hope in the midst of sorrow and trouble!

Lord, thank You for taking care of me and mine. You know that I let trials and sufferings hijack my mind too often, but even in the midst of my forgetfulness and stupidity, you are still holding me together and carrying me through. Thank you for holding me together until I can remember who You are and that I belong to You, and I look forward to the day that my forgetfulness is overwhelmed by the memory and character You are producing in me. You know I have friends and loved ones overwhelmed in temporal and temporary trials and suffering. Please help them remember you carry them, too. Amen.

I’m Thankful for the Love of God — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 3

I’m thankful for the love of God! There is no other love like it. In fact, His love informs all other love — defines all other love.

In John 15:13, Jesus says that there is no “greater love” than one who will lay his life down for His friends. The day after He said that, He died on the cross for us, and proved that there is no “greater love” than His!

He loves us, and having experienced the love He has for us, we love Him in return. It is the same way that children learn what love is. They experience love from their parents and families, and they learn to reciprocate it. But it is not about the love we return. God’s love is so much more powerful and abundant than our meager offering back to Him.

I love the word that John used to describe the extent of God’s love here: propitiation. This is merely a big seminary or theology word. This is a Bible word. It describes a sacrifice that exchanges the wrath of God sinners deserve with the favor of God they don’t. Those who are saved experience the favor of God that His Son Jesus deserves because Jesus bore the wrath that our sin deserves. That’s love. And there’s no “greater love” than that!

Lord, thank You for loving me and all that You have saved. We don’t deserve Your love, especially not me, but I am thankful that You set Your affections on me despite my sin. Thank You for paying for my sin and covering me with Your blood. I love you, too, and long for the Day when we will be together forevermore.

I’m Thankful for the Gospel — Gratitude & Hope Challenge | November 1

I’m thankful for the gospel — the good news of Jesus Christ — that tells us that He died for our sins on the cross we deserved, was buried, and rose from the dead defeating death, hell, and the grave.

That’s good news!

Literally, that’s what the word “gospel” means: good news!

Lord, thank you for the good news that we do not have to remain dead in our sins. Thank you for being willing to send Your Son to die in our place and giving the opportunity to come to You by grace through faith in Jesus and be made alive in Him.

Daily Wisdom Challenge — Proverbs 31

Here we are FINALLY finished with the #DailyWisdomChallenge! What took some 31 days, only took me 56. But this challenge is not about an amount of time or some mark we check off, is it? No, it is about getting God’s Word in us and through us — Him producing results and us giving Him our time, minds, and lives to spend time with Him in His Word and share it with other. I have enjoyed spending this time with Him and sharing Him and His Word with you.

This last proverb is one that has been on my mind. I have typed and retyped this post because I just couldn’t seem to articulate it — to get my words right. Today, it is what it is and ain’t what it ain’t. Let’s dive in.

Much of Proverbs 31 (vv. 10-31) is about the virtuous wife/woman. I was tempted to pick some verses from that section and speak well of my wife, which I do as often as I can because she is amazing. But Proverbs 31:8-9 is about using our voices — in this case, my voice and platform — to speak for those who have no one to speak for them. I will always speak up and advocate for Candice, but what of those who have no advocate?

It might help to understand what it means to advocate for someone. Let’s break it down. There are two forms of the word, both spelled the same; one is a verb (meaning to support or speak in for — or in favor of — someone or something) and a noun (meaning one who supports or speaks for someone or something). To use both in a sentence: an advocate advocates for people or issues. That’s the English teacher take on it, but we need a more pastoral perspective here.

In 1 John 2:1-2 give us a good picture of Jesus as our Advocate (the ESV even using that exact word):

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

In this brief passage, we see Jesus almost as an advocate or defense attorney in courtroom. We know that Satan is known as the “accuser” in Revelation 12:10 and is “day and night” putting our sin in the form of an accusation or case against us “before our God”. Satan wants God to look at our sin and cast us out as he was so long ago. He wants to hurt God by showing Him how His children sin against Him and others. He also wants to hurt us and see us destroyed (1 Peter 5:8). We really don’t need an accuser to understand this because just like our great-great-great-great-uncle Cain, our sin cries out like Abel’s shed blood (Genesis 4:10), and God knows it, too.

Who would stand as an advocate for one who is clearly guilty? How many courtroom dramas have feature hot shot defense attorneys remarking that only a fool would ask their client if they are guilty. In this case, we know we are guilty. All have sinned (Romans 3:23) and none stand before God as righteous in their own standing (Romans 3:10). Yet John clearly says that those who are in Christ who sin (which includes any and everyone who has ever and will ever be saved) has an advocate: Jesus Christ the righteous.

Jesus stands for us when our sin cries out against us, reminding the Father that He has cast our sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

Jesus stands for us when the accuser comes before the Father and reminds him that He has exchanged our sin and shame for His righteousness and standing as a son (1 Corinthians 5:21).

He speaks for us when the recollection of our sin silences us and shuts the mouth of accuser, reminding us that He has saved us and him that his doom is sure.

What a joy it is to have someone speak for you when you are in trouble (Psalm 34:17)! What a relief it is to have someone advocate for you to receive help in your time of trouble (Psalm 46:1)!

That’s the point of our final proverb together: use the voice and platform God has given us to be an advocate for those in need and in trouble, people who do not have anyone to speak for them. Worldly wisdom says mind your business and stay in your lane when it comes for helping folks in precarious situations. God’s wisdom says speak up for those who have no one to speak up for them (“the destitute”) and no voice of their own (“the mute”). God’s wisdom says that we are to “defend the rights of the poor and needy” — to make sure that people can get the help they need.

Now, the argument that comes up here is always something like “What about those who are misusing the help they receive?” or some citing of something like 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and some variation of “if you don’t work, you don’t eat”. Remember this is not a blanket statement of foolishness or reckless speech; it says “judge righteously” right here in the proverb. But we are to err on the side of help rather than stinginess — advocating for help rather than silence.

So, what about you? Are you silent for the suffering or speaking for them to receive help? Does Jesus the righteous advocate for you and yet you remain silent for others?

This is the culmination, not only of the #DailyWisdomChallenge for me, but the pinnacle of the challenge of whether I will yield to God’s wisdom or roll with the world’s. John has challenged us to speak and share God’s Word with others. Now, God in His Word has challenged us to speak and share God’s Word FOR others, too.

Won’t you join me?

For the month of October (and finally finished 25 days into November), we are answering the challenge John Goldwater, pastor of Christ Community Church in Grenada, MS, laid out — the #DailyWisdomChallenge. Each day, we are going to read through a chapter of Proverbs corresponding to the day of the month.

This fits with what we have studied in Colossians, specifically Colossians 3:1-2, namely that we should seek “the things that are above, where Christ is” and set our minds like a thermostat “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. Imagine what a month meditating on God’s Word daily can do for us.

Won’t you join us on this #DailyWisdomChallenge and set your minds on Christ?

Daily Wisdom Challenge — Proverbs 19

For the month of October, we are answering the challenge John Goldwater, pastor of Christ Community Church in Grenada, MS, laid out — the #DailyWisdomChallenge. Each day, we are going to read through a chapter of Proverbs corresponding to the day of the month.

Won’t you join us on this #DailyWisdomChallenge and set your minds on Christ?

I love this proverb because it shows hope in a couple of ways that I think we really need to see in this day and age.

First, there is hope to be found in Jesus that is greater than any darkness or depression or depravity. Hope in Jesus is not hypothetical hope, but it is instead fixed and sure, resting on the foundation of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will surely do. His victory transcends everything that remains unknown because He has already “overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In the context of Proverbs 19:18, there is obvious reference to trouble. Why else would there be need to discipline one’s son? Whatever trouble is pointed to here, it must be bad or represents the sum total of the bad a kid can get into because God in His wisdom advises the parent not “set [their] heart on putting him to death”. Kids, just like their parents, get sideways in sin sometimes. All of them, just like all parents, do. But when you are in the midst of having to discipline this child that you have raised and tried to point in the right direction, some trouble seems like it leaves no room for hope.

The Jesus-hope this proverb’s God-wisdom points to is pictured well in Romans 5:1-5:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

This sort of hope – hope only found by those who have been “justified by faith”, those who have received “peace” from God stemming from standing in His grace – works differently than worldly hope. Wordly hope is hypothetical and fails when suffering hits. Jesus-hope starts with suffering and grows as God’s Spirit gives endurance. That endurance produces fruit of the Spirit that defines one’s character. And once God has worked Himself into and out through your character, hope is a way of life. It is a byproduct of the eternal life He gives those who believe in Him.

The second hope is one that many do not agree with: as long as a child lives, I believe there is hope. Are there troubles and sins and crimes that have longlasting consequences? Absolutely. Are there things that can happen and be committed that can forever alter the life of a child? Yes. But the hope shown above is for sinners. It is hope for the ones who messed up. It is hope for those whose works earn death. It is hope for children like me – and children like you.

I find myself having to remind myself of this often as I work with students.

I find myself having to remind myself of this often as I parent my kiddos.

I find myself having to remind myself of this often because of my parent’s oldest kid (and to a lesser degree my inlaws youngest).

So, if you find yourself in the rough times of parenting and you wonder whether its worth keeping on keeping on with your kiddo, it is. God tells us here in His wisdom that there is hope in bearing with them in discipline. Things may look hopeless from your vantage point, but from the throne of the King of kings, He sees what we can’t. He sees and tells us to hope. And as He told us in Romans, hope will not put us to shame.

Daily Wisdom Challenge — Proverbs 18

Won’t you join us on this #DailyWisdomChallenge and set your minds on Christ?

Outside of God saving me, the single greatest blessing in my life is God allowing me to be married to Candice. It does not take much thought or thinking through our relationship over the last twenty-three years to confirm that she is definitely my “good thing” and an example of God’s grace and “favor” in my life. And none who know or care for me would disagree.

But Proverbs 18:22 is not just about me and Candice. It, like so many other proverbs, finds its meaning not only in its own words but in contrast to others. As we looked at when discussing the “forbidden woman” v. the wife of one’s youth in Proverb 5, there is a contrast between the life that God prescribes and the paths that forge on their own. In the coming chapters of Proverbs (21:19 and 25:24), there is a contrast between wives who seek to be something other than a good thing or godly favor but to drive their husbands to be better off living “in a desert land” (Proverbs 21:19) or on “a corner of the housetop than in a house” (Proverbs 25:24).

Proverbs 18:22 represents living according to God’s wisdom in contrast to the anti-wisdom of the temptations of the forbidden woman or the plight of a quarrelsome marriage. God has a specific design for marriage and, as He Himself invented marriage, His design works best.

Before we get into God’s design for marriage, let us clarify as we did in our our “Adorned With Christ in All of Life: Marriage” part of our Colossians series, marriage isn’t for everyone, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 7. Marriage is good and “should be held in honor” (Hebrews 13:4), but Paul says those who stay unmarried can have even greater devotion to Christ (1 Corinthians 7:38).

God’s design for marriage began when He remarked in the Garden of Eden that it was “not good” that Adam “should be alone” and decided to “make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). God performed the first surgery and the first marriage in quick succession. He created Eve from Adam’s rib and joined them together as man and wife. Their union was to be the example for those marriages moving forward — in intimacy as well as how it was set apart (Genesis 2:23-25).

Many try and abuse God’s design for marriage by citing the term “helper” (Genesis 2:18) and the call to submission in Ephesians 5:22, but those picture something different for marriage — something better. You see, God did not create marriage for a man’s benefit but also for women.

While it is “favor from the Lord” for man to find a wife, it is not a curse for the wife. The husband is to love and care for his wife “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Marriage is to be a picture of the gospel (Ephesians 5:32).

To find God’s purpose for your life is a good thing. If it is singleness, that is a good and godly pursuit. If it is marriage, that is a good and godly pursuit. But both should be sought as God prescribes.

Marriage works best the way God intended with husbands caring for and loving their wives and wives caring for and loving their husbands. When I think specifically of how God has blessed me and shown favor to me in my wife, I think of the rib He used to make Eve (Genesis 2:21). God did not just design marriage; He also designed the human body. He made the rib cage to protect the most vital human organs like the heart and lungs. My wife is small, but she is fiercely protective of those she loves. She is protective of me even when I think I do not need protection. She looks to care for me even when I think I am the only one doing the caring and providing.

She has also taught me what it is to be a “helper” in the Genesis 2:18 sense. Everything that I do is enhanced because God has put her in my life. He has changed and grown me immensely over the years by His indwelling Spirit, and He has given me a desire to change, grown, and be better for the wife He has given me.

If you are reading this and married, take time and thank God for the spouse He has given you. Then, talk to your spouse and tell them you are thankful for them. Know that God has a plan for your marriage as surely as He has a plan for you (Ephesians 2:10), and see to it that you represent God’s favor to your spouse rather than husband-ing or wife-ing in such a way that they are headed for the desert or the roof! As Martin Luther said centuries ago, “Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of marriage. Thank you for the way that Your relationship with Your church gives us the perfect example of love and a high standard to live up to — a standard worth striving for. Thank you for Candice and make me a man worth being married to!

Daily Wisdom Challenge — Proverbs 12

Won’t you join us on this #DailyWisdomChallenge and set your minds on Christ?

Today’s verse immediately brings a quote by fictional character Dwight Shrute. In an episode of The Office, Dwight was responding to the the faux documentary crew asking what the best advice his boss, Michael Scott, had ever given him. Here’s his response:

“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think, ‘Would an idiot do that?’ And if they would, I do not do that thing.”

While that is quippy and meant to be funny, it fits well with Proverbs 12:1.

I had to read this verse twice, which led me to choose this for the 12th installation in the #DailyWisdomChallenge. After having the above quote come to mind, I asked myself who in their right mind “loves discipline”? Well, this is why we are seeking wisdom from God in this challenge – to get in the right mind and thereby set our minds on things that are above rather than on the things of this world and the false or anti-wisdom that comes with it (Colossians 3:2).

My views on discipline have changed drastically over the years. As a kid, I hated it. I genuinely hated everything about getting in trouble. The older I got, the more the discipline and correction changed. The things that did not embed in me through quick punishment required longer punishment. There were lengthy conversations and explanations of why right was right and the dangers of the wrong. When I thought I knew better (and was “stupid” by hating my parents’ “reproof”), the discipline hurt all the more as I got to see my parents disappointed in me, knowing that I was supposed to know better.

As I got older and began working with kids – whether it be at church or my time spent tutoring at the Reedy Acres campus of the Baptist Children’s Village, my views on discipline changed. There were times that “reproof” needed to happen, and I found myself on the side of doling out discipline. All my thoughts of wanting to try my parents’ side of discipline quickly evaporated as I learned that it was not at all enjoyable to work and repeat “reproof” often enough for it to have the opportunity to sink in.

Now, I have kids of my own and classrooms full of kiddos at work. Discipline is part of it. It is a responsibility. It is not to be taken lightly. But it is necessary as it is how we learn.

Who in their right mind “loves discipline”, then? Well, the man or woman who has received discipline and grown from it. This, of course, fits with the parental and teacherly discipline I spoke of above, but it fits even better when we look at the grace and love our heavenly Father shows us when He bears with us and disciplines us. Read that again: the discipline of the Father is a gift of grace borne out of His love for us.

In Hebrews 12, we see a beautiful picture of how to interpret proverbs like ours today. The writer quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 in Hebrews 12:5-6:

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.”

It is easier to love discipline when you know what it is to be loved by the Father. It is easier to love the tough-love He gives from time to time when we realize that in so doing He is “treating [us] as sons” (Hebrews 12:7).

If you are struggling with this, you are not alone. But, if you’ll forgive one more fictional character quote, Forrest Gump’s mother spoke true when she taught him, “Stupid is as stupid does.” In the case of Proverbs 12:1, stupid is hating reproof and learning nothing. God graciously offers the opportunity to repent and learn from Him.

May we learn to love His discipline more than we desire to do what we want to do!

May we learn that it comes from His love and lean into His discipline rather than kicking against it!