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Blessings for obedience and the discipline for disobedience

REFLECTION

The theme for our reflection is the discipline of the Lord. Discipline is the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour and using punishment to correct disobedience. Moses admonishes the Israelites to obey God and be blessed. On the other hand, he cautions them that disobedience to God will lead to punishment from God.

Why should we face the discipline of the Lord? God is unpredictable because He is unsearchable and infinite however He has made His expectations of us and His commandments predictable and accessible to us. It will not be fair for God to discipline the Israelites over offences or sins that are not known to them therefore Moses admonished the Israelites that “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2) In other words, the commandments of God are not hidden, they have been made known to the Israelites therefore it was their duty to obey the commandment and please God. In the same manner, the will of God and His expectations of Christians are not hidden, they are in the Holy Scripture. If we devote time to read and study it we shall discover and obey the will or commandment of God.

Those who disobey a commandment because they have no knowledge about its existence are most likely to be pardoned but a person who deliberately and willfully disobeys a commandment certainly will be disciplined. It is for this reason that Mose again said that “Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. (Deuteronomy 28:47-48) In other words, failure to obey God’s commandment in times of prosperity will lead to facing God’s discipline even in times that the Israelites will need God the most for their survival or existence?

Today’s reflection teaches us that the same God who blesses us when we have faith in Him and obey Him is the same God who disciplines us when we disobey him. If this is the fact we deduce from today’s reflection then why does the righteous, obedient and faithful Christians suffer? We must differentiate suffering borne out of trials and persecution as a result of our faith and obedience to God from suffering borne out of disobedience to God. Jesus is our perfect example of suffering borne out of trials and persecution thus Paul wrote that “… being found in appearance as a man, he(Jesus) humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8). To avoid the discipline and wrath of God as a result of disobedience, we must repent from our sin, accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and be guided by the Word of God in our daily lives. God remains faithful to His obedient children even in hard and challenging times but to the disobedient and ungrateful, He disciplines.

The discipline of God does not mean God totally condems us, Jesus is able to reconcile us back to God even after we have been disciplined. Paul again reminds us that “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Let us not take for granted God’s gift of grace, reconciliation and love for humanity through Christ but also be mindful of the fact that God is disciplinarian who will not hesitate to punish us when we become unrepentant in our disobedience. Shalom

PRAYER

ALMIGHTY GOD CONTINUALLY INCLINE OUR EARS TO LISTEN AND OBEY YOUR COMMANDMENTS AND TO FOLLOW THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST WHO OBEYED YOU EVEN TO THE POINT OF DEATH. AMEN

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)