The Discipline of God
Hebrews 12:1-3, 9, 12-13
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!
The spiritual life affects the physical. God is the Father of the spirits of men. He disciplines by his living Spirit ours; we share our spirit with his as his true children if we undergo such. God does not care about the devil's children according to John 8:44, except how they may serve his purpose. See, God purposes to bring good on this earth and in eternity. He takes his own to the spiritual woodshed to produce godliness in 1 Timothy 6:6. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says to glorify him then in body and spirit "which are God's." Knowing that God is a strict disciplinarian requires the right mindset as in Philippians 2:5. Thus, we forget "those things which are behind," Philippians 3:13-14 says, and press on towards the mark "of the high calling" of Christ.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
These verses speak of this Heavenly perspective. The things that choked the Word of God in Matthew 13:22 were the thorns of circumstances and the cares of this life. God has made it clear that these circumstances and the cares of this life are only temporal, lasting for a short time. Jesus, the last Adam and our Father whom we are made to be like in his image, walked the path through this world to Heaven before us as in 1 Corinthians 15:45. He does not always guide us with his Spirit even though we are his. This is not always because we have displeased him; rather, he does this to bring forth more holiness, more godliness, and more of himself. As grapes which have been crushed to make the wine in them come forth, so Christ was the first fruits thereof from the beginning; we know what he went through. The training of Christ produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. For the fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, long suffering," and many others in Galatians 5:22. This means that you cannot have one without the others. The Spirit of God produces all these in our lives like the aroma of Christ. When you smell it, you know he is around. See for what reason he does do all this. Since the present discipline is painful why would anyone care about the life to come? Who cares about physical circumstances and how they work together for our good; who cares how God uses his Spirit and the rebellion of the devil to produce his plan in our lives? Who cares about the fruits of the Spirit or looking like Christ? Who cares about coming through trials for his name sake smelling like him with his presence hanging heavy over us? Who cares about how he suffered and calls us to share in his life? What purpose is it to us since it hurts right now. We just want the pain to go away because all we see is the right now or where we have been. Such things that we have been through equip us for every good work unto Christ according to Hebrews 13:21. Right thinking produces right living. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" in Philippians 4:13.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
We see that in these verses Christ does not want us to stay in the place of disorder, death, disease, or disability. Isaiah 53:5 speaks of Christ and how he was wounded for our transgressions and our sins. Every time we take communion, we "do show the Lord's" life and "death until he comes" in 1 Corinthians 11:26. Christ is living in us, amen. We live rightly "through the blood of his cross;" thus, we can be resurrected with him to life eternal as in Colossians 1:20. This is not a graveyard or even a funeral, but a process of resurrection in Christ Jesus our Lord, amen. The process of transubstantiation is not that we are crucifying Christ afresh every week and putting "him to an open shame." Rather, we are being made into his likeness in Hebrews 6:6. Some of us live like Christ never died for us or expects us to live for him; I question whether some of you are his. He does not like it when his name is taken in vain according to Exodus 20:7.