His Love

Ps. 119:^67-68 “I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word. You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees.” (emphasis added).

We [human parents] do not discipline. We do more than discipline, we punish. What is the difference? Remember my story from yesterday? That moment when I see my grandmother and immediately, I wish I was lost again. Can you guess why? It is because the resetting [the slaps] that follows is always very beautiful. God is saying in His Word that He does not punish. If you put your faith in Christ Jesus, if Jesus is the Lord of your life, if Jesus is the shepherd of your soul, God will never punish you. God disciplines, He does not punish. Discipline is not punishment. For us as parents, God wants us to discipline our children and not punish our children.

What is the difference? The difference is, punishment is penalty for a past wrongdoing often motivated by anger. Punishment is penalty for the past. When you have done something wrong, my Dad would say, “you have met your waterloo.” Meaning, you are going to get whooped. Discipline, on the other hand, is training for the future and it is motivated by love. Discipline means having those conversations about why you should stay close to mom and dad in a public place. You discipline the child, “Because of what you have done, no play station for you.” Or it could be, “It is your phone that distracts you and then you get lost. Therefore, I am going to seize your phone every time we go to the market so that you can pay attention”. Discipline is correction for the future. Am I saying God does not punish us? Exactly! God disciplines us [that is if you are His child]. How come God never punishes people that belong to Jesus?

It is simple; all our punishment was already taken by [put on, laid on] Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He was crushed for the sins we did, and the punishment we deserved was given to him. So now we are healed because of his wounds.” [Isa.53:5 paraphrased]. If God has punished Jesus already, He cannot punish us again because that would be unrighteousness for Him. Gal. 2:¹⁸ (KJV) “For if I build again the things which I destroyed; I make myself a transgressor.” And God would not do that. The punishment was laid on Jesus, Jesus took our lashes, and now we are healed because of His wounds. The reason we are healed is not because we pray. Does healing still happen? Yes, it does! And the reason is not that we have faith, the reason is He was wounded for our transgressions, he was wounded for our iniquities, the chastisement that brought us peace was laid upon Jesus and by His stripes, we have been healed.

God does not punish us because He has already punished Jesus for us. Jesus is our big brother that took the punishment on our behalf. Honestly, if you are not a child of God, you are just suffering for nothing. Ps.119:⁷¹ “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (NIV). When God disciplines it produces in us the fruit of right living.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for taking my punishment and bringing me healing. You are good, and you only do good, so train me in your principles, in Jesus Name. Amen!