Good morning. Continuing
on the theme of discipline: but if you are without discipline, of which all
have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Ouch!
God only disciplines His children; so if He's not disciplining you, then you're
not His child. We had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them;
shall we not rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Too many even
of God's children do not respect Him. If you don't respect God when you are
"little" spirituality, then you won't respect Him when you "get
older". Disciplining is for training; it is not to inflict wrath. They did
not want to be trained – they were strong-willed children in the Lord. God
disciplines us for our good, that we may share His Holiness. All discipline for
the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been
trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. No one
says "oh boy I am being disciplined". Therefore, strengthen the hands
that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your
feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be
healed. Buck up baby; it's a long road. We are in a marathon, not a sprint. We
need to follow the straight and narrow way. (follow, follow, follow, follow,
follow the yellow brick road). Father thank You that the reader submits
willingly to Your discipline. He/she helps others to also follow after You.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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