Alert! Alert! Alert!

 Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. (Napoleon Hill)

Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t give up when he corrects you. (Hebrews 12:3-5 NLT)

God's discipline may not seem like a good thing, but it is always based in love and fully cushioned with his grace. We struggle with sin - he provides a bit of correction to get us back on course. We get lazy in our walk with him - he calls us to attention through circumstances we never expected. We drift a bit in our focus on what he has called us to do - he puts a bit of a roadblock in our path, so we are forced to turn around again. God's discipline is always meant for CORRECTION.

It is hard to believe that correction is always based in love because there are all kinds of 'correction' on this earth that don't seem a whole lot like they are 'loving'. I have a newer car that is fully equipped with one of those sensors that tells you when you are drifting out of your lane of traffic and it also alerts you if you are following too close to stop. All those alerts can seem a little over-the-top at times, but the entirety of them are designed for our safety. God's corrections are no different - they are designed for our safety and for our growth.

It is tempting to just throw in the towel when correction comes our way for the 'umpteenth' time, isn't it? We might not want another 'round' of correction, but if we look at it from the perspective of his love guiding us, we might just embrace it a little differently. The moment we begin to even entertain the thought of compromise; he begins the work of correcting us. We may not hear it clearly, choosing to ignore his warning to move away from that course, but his voice is still speaking to us. At heaven's gates, we will never be able to plead that he didn't warn us!

Strength and growth are always the objectives of his correction - we might not think our weakness will ever lead to strength, but it does when we finally admit we are too weak to resist temptation on our own. The more we acknowledge our need for help, the more help comes our way. The child of God is never without his help - we might not choose to embrace it, though. Jesus knows we struggle - so he provides a means by which we can overcome the struggle. He knows we drift - so he provides the 'prompts' that get us back on track. Remember - his goal is our safety. Just sayin!