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God
was using the very thing they wanted to avoid – suffering - to
train them. God’s discipline does that. The Greek word for “discipline”
is PADEIA. It means “education, training, instruction, correction,
and suffering.” It is a general word that refers to training
someone. As a child, all of us have suffered “pain,” if
our parent(s) disciplined us. Our parents may have told us how we
should have behaved, denied us privileges, or may have spanked us.
PADEIA includes all of these forms of “discipline.” We can
suffer in a number of ways: when He speaks to us from His word, when
He denies us privileges, when He brings hardship into our lives, or
when He causes us to be physically ill or allows tragedy. He trains
only real Christians. When we suffer, it is proof that we are His
children. But why does God discipline His children?
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. . . He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His
holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful,
but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards
it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (NASB) Heb. 12:10-11 |
God
has one major motivation for our suffering - our holiness. He is more
interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He wants us to be
like Him. He is a holy God. Every runner knows that eventually the
hands, knees and feet grow weak in the race. So He says,
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Therefore,
strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which
is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (NASB)
Heb. 12:12-13 |
Keys
To Victory.
How do we run the Christian race? We must have faith in Jesus; then
we need to be willing to endure suffering until we reach heaven. We
must not be angry with those who cause us to suffer. We must not become
bitter while “staying under” our suffering.
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Pursue
peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no
one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of
the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes
trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral
or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for
a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired
to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place
for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. (NASB) Heb.
12:14-17 |
We must fix our eyes on the prize - Jesus and heaven and run hard.
Conclusion.
Successful Olympic runners do not focus on their pain but on the prize.
They know the prize is real - it exists. They have no doubt. Why else
would they train and endure suffering? The reason they are running
is for the prize.
How
are you running? Is the prize real? Do you have doubts? You will not
run well if you doubt the prize is real and is worth the suffering.
If you believe the invisible prize is real, then you will run with
confidence and be willing to suffer. Fix your eyes on the prize, Jesus;
endure suffering, and run!
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