Sunday, July 24, 2022

OUR FATHER WHO TEACHES AND DISCIPLINES US

Proverbs chapter 13 verse 1 says this;

 A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.

The Lord Jesus was the quintessential example of a wise son who heeded His Father's instruction. As Jesus Himself explained in John chapter 5 verse 19;

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way.

Jesus heeded His Father's instructions so that all things that people saw him do were the things that He saw His father doing.

This fidelity to His Father also applied to the things Jesus said as it says in John chapter 12 verse 49;

For I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Himself, having sent Me, gave Me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.

The wisdom of listening to the instructions of one's father  is contrasted with the inability to heed correction. 

Whereas a wise son will carefully follow the instructions of his father, an unwise son not only does not listen to his father's instruction but when he acts on his own and does what is wrong, he refuses to respond to reprimands.

Such a one is labeled a mocker whose end is destruction.

Psalm chapter 1 verses 20 - 27 says this as a caution to heed wisdom and respond to rebukes lest we mock wisdom, and we are overrun by calamity and become laughingstocks ourselves.

Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:

“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. 

But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

Amen.


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