For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].
Hebrews 12:11 (Amplified Version)
I want to pick up again on the theme of Joy this week but … well, there are things that don’t appear to be joyful that are needed to ultimately bring us to joy.
If you can cast your minds back a couple of weeks we looked at the three floodgates of Joy: faith, hope and love. But the water that flows through these gates will only spread aimlessly across the ground unless we dig furrows to channel it. These furrows might be called the disciples of the Christian life.
Breaking up unplowed ground in the soul is hard work and as the writer to Hebrews indicates doesn’t seem to be very joyful. But after it is done and fruit is produced the joy flows.
…. Well, it does usually. If you plough a field you need to keep your eye on a fixed point or the furrows are all over the place. Hebrews also teaches us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (12:2)
A W Tozer says:
“I do not want to leave the impression that the ordinary means of grace have no value. They most assuredly have. Private prayer . . . Bible meditation . . . church attendance, service and work and activity; all are good and should be engaged in by every Christian. But at the bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be the inward habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes . . . will develop within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are seeing the scenes of this passing world.“