Nudges | These Things | Holiness

But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. Hebrews 12:10

“God wants you to believe in yourself! Do what makes you happy!” It’s hard to get through a week without hearing some version of this slickly-packaged nonsense that is passing for Christian teaching these days. Billionaire TV preachers clog the airways and flood the bookstores with their Bible-flavored messages of self-worship that would have outraged the apostles. The result is a world filling rapidly with spiritually inflated and morbidly unhealthy pseudo-Christians. They are convinced that God’s goal is to make them happy. This is so opposite the Bible’s message that we could wonder why it’s even called “Christian.” The truth is that God does have goals for us. Good goals. And He’s very clear about them.

God wants us to be holy, like He is holy (1 Peter 1:15). He saved us from sin so that it no longer masters us. He hates sin so much that He sacrificed the life of His perfect Son to buy us out of it. God did not save us so that we could continue to sin without fear of hell, He saved us so that we could be what we were created to be—like Him. Holy. Holiness means we have been set apart for His glory, so He disciplines us when we glorify evil. He files away the ragged edges of our character the way a gemologist brings a diamond from a rock so that we become pure reflections of His beauty. Discipline can be painful, but it’s effective in bringing us back on track. Only through discipline can we become all we were meant to be.

Holiness means we have been set apart for His glory, so He disciplines us when we glorify evil. He files away the ragged edges of our character the way a gemologist brings a diamond from a rock so that we become pure reflections of His beauty, imitators of His Son. Discipline can be painful, but it’s effective in bringing us back on track. Only through discipline can we become all we were meant to be.

Final Thought:  God commands us to be holy, not happy, because real happiness is a result of being more like Him.
Prayer: Father, I remember some of the painful discipline you’ve given me because you love me. When I’ve chosen sin, you’ve come after me with a heavenly paddle. It was unpleasant, but it gives me confidence that I am yours.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.