Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons. The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Hebrews 12:4-13, preached by Nathan Burley last Sunday. You can listen to the whole sermon here.
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“The Lord disciplines the one He loves!”
Hard times are training. If we’re Christians, then they aren’t punishment, but they are teaching us something.
The Lord might be teaching us to trust Him, to lean on Him more, day by day.
It might be to remind us that this life isn’t the be all and end all, and our hopes should be set on heaven, the better country.
It might be to show us how the things we say hurt other people.
Or to make us better able to help others who are struggling, because we know what it’s like.
Or to sharpen our priorities so we decide again, “Yes, I do want to follow Jesus, rather than do my own thing and sin.”
Whatever it is, God is a fantastic dad. He knows us inside out and He knows the best way for us to learn is sometimes through a rough patch.
Often to get somewhere great, the journey is hard work…
Rather than asking, “What have I done to deserve this?”, why not ask, “What does my loving heavenly Father want to teach me through this?”