Community Devotions

Blessed Are The Disciplined?

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 94:12-13, "Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.”

OBSERVATION

Being blessed in wisdom literature is usually associated with health, wealth and longevity of life. Yet there is a blessing in being disciplined by God. God’s discipline is an expression of his love for us as his genuine children because he loves us enough to correct us. God corrects us with his word. Beyond the natural law of reaping what you sow, the blessed are lovingly reproved and corrected by God-breathed scripture. In other words, there is a blessing for not just learning from the consequences mistakes but from actual direction, conviction of the Holy Spirit through his word. The result of God’s loving discipline is relief from days of trouble.

APPLICATION

Blessing comes in many forms and I need to welcome the blessing of God’s discipline. Hebrews 12 specifically identifies enduring hardship as one of God’s loving discipline to his children. Don’t resist God’s discipline but welcome it with open arms. See it as an expression of the Father’s love to give me rest in days of trouble and relief in times of tumult.  When I discipline my children, teach them out of God’s word. Let it be rooted with the depth and weight of the inspired of God.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for lovingly blessing me with your discipline. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to suffer from the consequences of my sin to gain wisdom. Thank you for your inspired word that is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. May I never resist nor complain of your heart work in my life. I pray that you would help me discipline my children with your love, discernment and wisdom. I love you. Maranatha!

For the Sake of the Gospel

SCRIPTURE

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. - 1 Corinthians 9:22-23

OBSERVATION

How important is the gospel? To what end are we willing to risk and sacrifice all things for it? For Paul it was so important thing that he went “all in” for it. He became all things to all people so that by all possible means he might save some. He embraced the principle of “All for Some”. 

• Become ALL Things: For the sake of the gospel Paul became weak, poor, foolish, a servant, a bachelor, and surrendered his very rights that he was entitled to.
• ALL People: To the Jews, he became a Jew; to those under the law, he became like one under the law; to those who don’t have the law, he became like one not having the law; to the weak, he became weak.
• ALL possible means: he exercised extraordinary self-discipline so that he will not be disqualified to preach the gospel; he ran in such a way to win the prize; he went into strict training in order to get the everlasting crown; he did not run aimlessly but with purpose; he beat his body and made it his slave.
• Paul sacrificed it "all" for the possibility of winning “some".

I think at the end of their lives many people will be saddened by the fact that they lived it “all for nothing”. They pursued happiness, purpose, fulfillment without Christ and the gospel and it amounted to nothing in eternity. I want to live my life with purpose of “all for some” so that I don’t reach the end of my life with “all for nothing”.

• All things: I may have to surrender my own rights, the very things I am entitled to so that I can win some for Christ.
• All people: Be more diverse in reaching people in order to meet with them right where they are at. Learn things that I am not necessarily familiar with i.e. financial market, surfing, politics, government, real estate etc.
• All possible means: Be disciplined in resisting sin, laziness and self in order to pursue Christ in my spiritual disciplines (prayer, bible, worship, fasting, silence, solitude)

PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for giving it all to save some. Thank you for bankrupting heaven in all its glory and giving us your son Jesus. Jesus, thank you for giving your very own life and surrendering it all to save me. Please forgive me for feeling entitled and insisting on my rights. Lord, I want to do all things for the sake of the gospel and for your glory. Please give me a heavenly vision of what it looks to share in the blessings of the gospel. I love you. Maranatha!