Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today we will explore embracing God’s love.

1 John 4:18 (ERV) says…
Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

And Hebrews 12:5‭-‬8 (ERV)
says…
You are children of God, and he speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words: “My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing, and don’t stop trying when he corrects you. The Lord disciplines everyone he LOVES; he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” Proverbs 3:11-12 So accept sufferings like a father’s discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all children are disciplined by their fathers. So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God.

Consider…
Love feels like it hurts sometimes.💔

Yesterday the Holy Spirit transformed our negative thoughts about fear. Today He will expand our celebratory thoughts about God’s Love.

Typically when we discuss the love of God, it’s full of sunshine and rainbows. We celebrate the sacrificial and unconditional love of God, displayed in the life and death of Jesus Christ for us. Indeed, thoughts of God’s love turn our frowns upside down. Yet, our gracious loving God, wants us to also know Him as our loving disciplinary Father. That’s what our second scripture shows us when it says, “So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God.”

We know that God loves us and wants us to see Him as our Father, because 1 John 3:1a (NLT)
declares…
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!

And Romans 8:29 (NLT) shares…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Wait a minute, God calls us brothers and sisters of Jesus? Yes! Not only that, but according to Romans 8:17a (NLT)
we are joint heirs with Christ! 🤯

And guess what, the sunshine and rainbows of God’s Fatherly love just keeps on flowing, because Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) says He adopted us…
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Okay, we get it, God is our Father.

However, it’s in the Fatherhood of God that we begin to see the paradox that sometimes it feels like love hurts, albeit for our good. Look no further than Jesus as living proof of this truth. Isaiah 53:4‭-‬5 (ERV) explains, Jesus was punished in our place. Isaiah said…
The fact is, it was our suffering he took on himself; he bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing him, that God was beating him for something he did. But he was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of his pain.

Jesus took our Father’s punishment for our good. Let that marinate. 🤯

Now think about it, if our Heavenly Father would allow our big brother Jesus to take the ultimate punishment of death for us, do you really think He is going to let us keep doing wrong?

Earlier in this message, we celebrated being joint heirs with Christ. However, here’s the full verse…
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. – Romans 8:17 NLT

Share in His suffering? Although this suffering refers to the world’s mistreatment of those who do right like Christ, it still shows being God’s child hurts sometimes. 💔

And while it’s true that we are saved by God’s Grace, we’re also admonished not to keep sinning and require more grace. Romans 6:1‭-‬4 (ERV) says…
So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us more and more grace? Of course not! Our old sinful life ended. It’s dead. So how can we continue living in sin? Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ Jesus when we were baptized? In our baptism we shared in his death. So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in his death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life.

1 John 3:9 (ERV) further emphasizes…
Those who are God’s children do not continue to sin, because the new life God gave them stays in them. They cannot keep sinning, because they have become children of God.

Therein comes the encouragement within today’s second scripture…
“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing, and don’t stop trying when he corrects you. The Lord disciplines everyone he LOVES; he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.”

Correction, discipline, punishment… ouch, love feels like it hurts sometimes 💔

Punishment isn’t meant to feel good, it’s meant to produce good.❤

Our Heavenly Father won’t let us keep doing wrong. He corrects us to redirect us back to His path of righteousness and holiness.

Also, within the word discipline we see disciple. God’s discipline is to continue developing us to become better disciples of Jesus.

The truth is, we know when we sin. When we do, if we experience God’s correction, discipline, or punishment, then we know we’re His children. That’s why today’s second scripture says. But what about today’s first scripture? Why does it say…
It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

The answer is, only those who don’t know God as their Father, fear His punishment. Those of us who know Him as our Father understand that His love…

• Corrects us to consecrate us
• Disciplines us to develop us
• And Punishes us to preserve us

So the next time you receive your Heavenly Father’s loving correction, discipline, and punishment remember that it’s just confirmation that you’re His child.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that the purpose of our loving and disciplinary Father’s correction is to transform our disobedience into obedience.

Today’s song is…
Yes (Obedience)
https://youtu.be/lbLqWfyl2QQ?si=9gYzWtxcduil2DAR

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)