Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 79

March 13

Each of us has many different relationships in life. For example, there are the relationships of grandparent/grandchild, parent/child, aunt or uncle/nephew or niece, employer/employee, etc. For Christians, in all of our relationships, we should show that Christ is within us—that we are doing our part to ensure that He is always present in our relationships.

Parents of growing children have a double duty of discipline and encouragement in their relationship with their children. Similarly, in our relationship with God as our Heavenly Father, God exercises that dual responsibility of discipline and encouragement. The writer of the book of Hebrews says this: “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 our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while, as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:9–10).

Paul writes of the encouragement side of God’s grace in the second letter to Thessalonians. It is in the form of a prayer: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17).

Thus, in our relationships with each other, may they be based on mutual or reciprocal obligations, treating others as we would have them treat us, often going the second mile. May we too accept the discipline of our Heavenly Father, realizing that He is maturing us, and if we fall, He will pick us up . . . for God is the perfect Father.