August 22, 2022
"Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come..."
In the introductory chapter, we established the origin of sin’s misery. But the amazingly good news that comes out of this is that, for the sinner hidden in the perfect life of Jesus Christ, all the misery remaining to us in this world is a perfectly honed discipline God has ordained for His children.
“‘My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord,
and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
6For the Lord disciplines the one He loves,
and He chastises every son He receives.’
7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
10Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. 11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:5-11).
Sometimes, this discipline has to get very severe if we stray away from grace by puffing ourselves up in pride (I propose unintentionally due to the natural inclination of our Adamic hearts). Failing to continually wash our feet in the pure water of the Word of God, we can begin to delude ourselves about what is true, as the devil twists the memories of the Word and gospel and applies them in a way that glorifies self instead of God.
The Lord made a personal application of this to me in a parable-like bike ride. I had not taken water, and I took a route that I was not familiar with, which ended up being much longer than I thought and intended. This was May 30, and it ended up being two hours long (the longest and most-hilly route I’ve been on since several months of training). The Holy Spirit made the connection for me that it was a parable of a wayward church and the miseries of discipline we face when we fail to bring water and when we fail to properly map out and assess the paths we are taking. Are we following Jesus? Have we counted the cost? Have we trained ourselves in godliness through the Word?
On my bike ride, the hills were long and steep. Occasionally, when I was nearly feeling I would pass out, I walked the bike a little ways until I could breathe again. Needless to say, the ride was much slower than it should have been had I had water and the proper training before such an endeavor. By the end of the two hours, I was so spent, I literally had nothing left. It was all the strength I had to get up the relatively shallow hills I was then facing. But I was still pretty far from home. I called my husband to pick me up.
I could perceive that this is the state of anyone in the church who has drifted from the solid-rock foundations of Biblical truth, who have ventured into the perilous world, and who have found themselves utterly exhausted from spiritual battles and the trials of discipline to the point of feeling they were at the door of death. The only hope is for Jesus, the Bridegroom, to pick them up where they have fallen, to carry them back to the waters of refreshing.
“Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, 20that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you” (Acts 3:19-20).
*All Scripture citations are in the BSB (Berean Study Bible) version.
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