The Chosen One

You ever wonder how or why some people seem to get away with doing certain things but you cant?  How people can lie, plot, scheme, steal and live their lives with no remorse and receive no consequences is beyond me.  Oh but let that be me...

While others justify not paying their tithes and offerings, I get punished for not paying mine.  I can remember times when I decided not to pay my tithes, something would happen to my car that would cost me almost the exact amount I should have given.  Or how about when people knowingly do wrong to you or others?  They continue to live their lives without any thought to it and sometimes act like nothing ever happened.  Me?  That conviction would come down on me so hard that I'm unable to sleep at night.  I wont be able to rest until I apologize for what I've done or how I've behaved.

I can't lie, this frustrates the heck out of me!  Sometimes I feel like a kid at the playground.  I'm just sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else play but I cant.  Then I remember Matthew 22:14; "For many are called, but few are chosen."  I must be chosen.  I can disobey God when He tells me to do something, but I often suffer painful consequences and eventually end up doing what He told me to do in the first place. 

What brings me comfort is knowing God CHOSE me.  I'm still trying to figure out why but I'm so glad He CHOSE me.  He thought enough of me to make me one of His own.    He has used me in ways I could have never imagined.  Not many can say they are a CHOSEN instrument of God.  WoW!

So now why should I be happy when God refuses to let me get away with things?  

Hebrews 12 tells me why...

God Disciplines His Children

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.