I will discipline you but only in due measure. (Jeremiah 30:11)
To be left uncorrected is to be left alone, and to be left alone by God would be the worst possible condition for any of us to experience. Discipline, although painful at the time, is a sign of the love of a Father for His child; what we read from Jeremiah today is a source of cosmic comfort, for our God will discipline us only in due measure.
The love of God is no love at all if it does not bring with it a measure of divine discipline. Clearly, it is not a sign of love for a parent to let his or her child leap into a ditch or run over a cliff without stepping in to provide the necessary correction. Course correction in due measure is the surest indication that you are His and He is yours. Those who are allowed to simply run wild are not the offspring of the Almighty. They live for the expansion of their own kingdom, not the kingdom of God. They insist that they, not Jesus, must sit upon the throne of their lives, and they ignore or outright reject the call of Christ.
But for all those who are children of God, by grace through faith, our heavenly Father uses the rod to reform—not reject. I hope you’ll take a moment today to pause and give glory to God for this truth: He delivers His divine discipline to you in due measure, but pours out His love without measure. In Ephesians 3:18-19, the apostle Paul prayed that all the saints of God would come to know “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” and added that His love for us “surpasses knowledge.” (Christian, meditate on that for just a moment; God’s love for us is so full and so vast that it surpasses our comprehension!)
To know that divine discipline is regulated but divine love is not is to know all that is needed to see us through the other side of His chastisement. When we understand that every act of divine discipline is for our correction and never our condemnation, we are set free to receive from His hand all that He delivers, because we know ultimately that it will be for our good and His glory.
So the next time you find yourself under the rod of your Redeemer, rejoice! You can be sure that He is working all things together for your good. He is carefully counting every strike and will only deliver what is necessary to continue conforming you into the image and likeness of Jesus. May that truth set you free today!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 