Nice. Naive. Beautiful

lets go to the moon and wave at all the little people on earth...

John 8:32- Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Hebrews 12- God Disciplines His Sons

1Therefore, 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. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, 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 our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13"Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Warning Against Refusing God

14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."

After reading these passages from the Bible, among others, and hearing the voice of God speaking very clearly to me, I’ve come to a conclusion about my generation and the way we think. (I want to leave clear the fact that I speak only out of experience of this subject, and spiritual authority that the Lord has given me to talk about this specific matter.)

We love to know God as the God of love, our best friend, our Daddy God –all true- but we forget that God is THE God, ONE AND ONLY. He’s the full package. When we accept the God who loves us, we also accept the God who deserves reverence and awe. When we accept the God of peace, we also accept the God of justice.

I’ve noticed lately that the youth of today love to know God as the Merciful One, the Loving Father, but when it´s time to worship Him as our Judge, or accept His discipline (different from our perspective of discipline) we are quick to ignore Him and quick to turn away.

On judgment day, God will not be peaceful, loving, or compassionate (even though He is peace, He loves us, and has a great compassion for us.) He will be the One who judges us. Everything we´ve ever done will be brought out into the light on that day. We will be held account for everything that we´ve said, done or thought in our lifetime.

This is the truth. Truth that God is one of love, but also deserves respect, fear, reverence and awe, but I’ve also noticed how quick we are to be offended by the truth. Sadly, we will have enemies for speaking the truth, but in Mathew 5:10, it says- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is preoccupying the amount of brothers and sisters in Christ who are lost because of being easily offended by the truth. When the truth is spoken, it must be spoken with love, so, there is a problem from both ends: speaking the truth harshly (although we must be careful not to “dress up” the truth so we don’t offend) and receiving the truth as an offense. We should feel privileged that someone, guided by the Holy Spirit, cares enough and loves us so that they would come and help us understand our wrongs. God love us so much, that He disciplines us. There it is, the package deal! With love, comes discipline, and with discipline, there must be love. With peace, there must be justice, and with justice, peace is indispensable.

We all know that Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God was sent by the Father to die on the cross for our sins. This was, is and will be the greatest act of love, but, isn’t it the greatest act of sacrifice and justice? We had a debt. We had a fine, and the Judge should have sentenced us to the punishment we deserve, but instead Jesus is our Savior and took our place. When I realized this, the meaning of Savior was so much stronger. He saved us from our deserved punishment. The Great Judge should have sentenced us, me, but Jesus took my place. It´s incredible how love and justice go hand in hand.

We need to be careful with God´s grace and mercy. It is not a joke, and it is not something to be taken lightly. His mercy is renewed every morning, but it is not to be taken for granted.

Worshiping God as the “Consuming Fire”, as Justice, as discipline, is an incredible process of humbling, of sacrifice, of cleansing. It is absolutely necessary for our spiritual growth. Be thankful that it is God who judges us, and who has the final say on our discipline and eternity, and not man, not the one who is sitting next to us.