Christianity Oasis Forum

[logi bear]

A devotional from my church : )

God Will Not Be Mocked


Hebrews 12:5-8 says: . . . “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

The Lord will not be mocked. Yes, we serve a gracious God—a God of love and mercy, but He doesn’t play with sin. He will only let you tamper with sin for so long before He deals with the matter. Don’t make a mockery of the Lord. I don’t know what it is about us sometimes. If we are a Christian, we know that we are going to Heaven one day, so we think we can just play around with sin. Some of us think we can do what we want to do on this side of eternity because we are saved anyway. Do we think we are invincible? I pray, by the grace of God, that you and I never choose to think that way. Some of us just think we can get away with things we shouldn’t be doing and the Lord will look the other way.

As a Christian, we don’t just get away with sin. Haven’t you found that to be true? Hebrews 12 tells us that we won’t get away with sin, if we are His. Even if you are backslidden or not walking in the Spirit, no matter how far from the Lord you may be today, if you are His, you cannot get away with sin. You cannot get away with anything! Maybe everyone else will get away with “it” and you will be the only one to get caught. You will be found out. Because if you are a child of the King, He loves you that much. You are His.

The Lord doesn’t come after and chastise those who are not His. You don’t discipline another person’s children, right? He chastises those that are His. If you are in sin, and you don’t repent—if you are not responding to His still, small voice, He will have to chastise you. Smile. His chastisement means you are a child of God.

On the contrary, if you are in sin and getting away with it and you are deceiving people left and right--those around you really have no idea what you are really all about, you are in a scary place. Maybe you think it’s great because you are getting away with it. You think it’s great that you can live a double life and you are so good at deceiving those around you. If you are God’s, you will be chastised. You will be exposed. If you don’t deal with your sin quickly, God will deal with it. God is gracious and He gives us time to repent, but if we don’t, God will not be mocked.

When you are facing something that will sideline you, don’t sin against God, your Father. There will be consequences. Be set apart. When the temptation is being dangled before you, remember Whose you are—and all He has trusted you with. Sin is sin. Don’t do it. What will we choose? Run from the temptations of this world. Choose to serve the Lord. Stand for Jesus Christ—the solid rock. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15