The Purpose of Chastening (Reading Hebrews 12)

Expect bad things to happen to us when we step into faith.  This is contrary to what many believe, because we know of a God of blessing. But there is a clear reason expounded by the author of Hebrews for this.

Godly discipline is the mark of sonship.  v7 says “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?”  Godly discipline accompanies faith-building.   Its goal is to prepare us to become “partakers of holiness” (v10).   Its outcome is the “peaceable fruit of righteousness” (v11). We are to actively pursue it, seeking “peace with all people and holiness”, because without holiness no one will see the Lord.  It is a community effort.  We should watch after each other, so that no one will fall.  We must watch for any “root of bitterness” that may arise and cause many to be defiled.

All these prepare us for the day when we enter the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is no longer the arduous place of meeting where Moses met the Lord at Mount Sinai.  It is now Mount Zion, the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, a welcoming place for us made possible by the grace covenant established by Jesus (v22,24).  However, we must careful not to turn Him down.  We must enter with (v28) “reverence and godly fear”, because God is a consuming fire.

Trials and tests in our lives prepares us with the right attributes and attitude to enter the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is not of this world.  We must prepare to enter it diligently and reverently.  We must submit to God’s hand of discipline and moulding allowing him to transform us into the right Kingdom mindset.

Acts of Faith (Reading Hebrews)

Hebrew 11 is about faith. With a whole chapter devoted to it, it is one of the most important attribute that a believer must have.  According to v2, it is the factor by which our elders, the people of old, are being evaluated. V6 says that “without faith, it is impossible to please God.”

What is faith really? What is required of us? How do we get into the good books of God?

Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is for us to believe (v3) in that “the world is framed and created by the Word of God” and “the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible”; to accept and understand that behind what we see in the World, the hand of God is there. We who chooses to come to God “must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (V6). Simple as that.

The challenge is what comes after. How much do we believe in our guts about God? Will we do what He tells us to despite the great odds placed before us.  The Lord knows us too well. He said “blessed are they who believed, but yet have not seen”. In other words, He knew that it is extremely difficult for people to believe in what they do not see, let alone to do things that faith led us to do. So the author of Hebrews went on to describe the acts of faith undertaken by the men of faith.  By faith, Noah ridiculously build a boat in the middle of nowhere.  By faith, Abraham left for an unknown destination with his family in tow.  By faith, Sarah received pregnancy from the Lord even after decades of barrenness.  Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samuel, David, the prophets like Daniel, all did seemingly incredible, even ridiculous acts in the name of faith and helped advance the Kingdom of God.

For us, the questions are “what are we going to do with our faith?” and “how do we choose if our faith is tested?” We may not be as great as the people of the Bible, but we will be tested just the same. Remember that the nameless poor widow that the Lord mentioned in Mark 12:44 or the nameless lady with the issue of blood in Luke 8:43?  These ordinary people will be standing side by side with the great men of the Bible in the days to come because of their faith and not due to any great things they may have done.  Man evaluates us by the wealth we have and the great projects we have accomplished in our lives.  God on the other hand recognizes and evaluates us by our faith, and faith only.

Faith is our response to God and it is reflected in what we do.  May we be able to stand before Him in that final day and hear Him say to us (Mat 25:23), “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”