Falling Short

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. (Hebrews 12:14-17, NKJV).

I am constantly amazed at what the modern world, versus the Bible, expects from each of us.

In this era and culture, at least, the world expects men to be almost androgynous, women to be powerful, and children to be unbridled containers of impulses and cascading hormones who are uncontrollable by any traditional means. Rather than abstinence based on morality, free contraceptives. Instead of self-control, prescription drugs.

When men fall short of this expectation and display inherent masculinity, protectiveness, and leadership they are deemed insensitive, Neandertalic, paternalistic, and oppressive.

When women value their inherent femininity, devote themselves to managing the home and raising children, serving God and their families sacrificially, and opposing barbaric reproductive rights, the world decries them as not real women, gender traitors, and brain-washed pawns of the patriarchal tyrants who rule the world.

Likewise, children who respect parental and civil authority, desire to obey, are self-controlled, moral, and seek the things above rather than the ephemeral goals of this world, are looked upon as hapless victims, throwbacks and damaged goods needing repair. Repressed. Brain-washed. Weird.

The world hates Christ and Christians, and whereas before this antipathy was largely covert, it is becoming increasingly open, contemptuous and bitter, culturally acceptable, widespread, and a hallmark of social "edginess" and popularity.

Condemn a Christian in a public, media influenced venue and you are a hero. Defend one, or worse yet, be vociferous in your own Christianity, and you are a villain. Or worse.

When not vilifying people of faith in films, books, and television, the idea-generators focus on the evils of capitalism, corporatism, and business as a whole, while the inhabitants of those profit-making spheres themselves expect undying effort on the part of their employees, ruthless dedication to success and income, and a devotion to the enterprise that leaves no room for anything else, including family and religious pursuits.

That is one summation of what the current version of the world expects.

Expectations in Scripture are nothing like that. Nothing like that at all.

For instance, it is often said that "God helps those who help themselves." Where this came from is a mystery, since nowhere in the tens of thousands of verses in the Bible are those word even remotely strung together.

In fact, the Bible proclaims the opposite - sinful humans are incapable of doing anything of value in and of themselves. We require a Savior of, well, Biblical proportions. We are so broken and ineffectual that to improve we need to be regenerated and become new creations with new hearts and renewed minds. None of that is DIY ("do it yourself"). 

It is all "of God" and comes not when we strive for self-improvement (as the world insists in various forms), but when we strive to enter His rest.

There is none good. No not one.That is the unequivocal proclamation of the Bible in regard to humanity. 

And without Christ, that depravity is eternally fatal.

So the Bible expects something very different than the world. It expects surrender, not conquest. It expects reliance on Christ, not self-reliance. It expects an acknowledgement, soul-deep, of our helplessly broken and sinful state so that we seek the only cure available - salvation through faith in Christ.

From Scripture's perspective, a Christian falls short not by not succeeding in worldly terms, but by rejecting the grace of God given to him or her through faith in Christ.

To understand what this means, two concepts need further discussion: grace, and being in Christ.

Technically, grace is unmerited favor, and the opposite of mercy, in that grace is being given those good things underserved, while mercy is reprieve from those bad things we do deserve.

Grace has been couched in the acronym God's-Riches-At-Christ's-Expense, and that is true, but hardly exhaustive. In reality, grace is an expression of God's love in seeing us not as we are now in time and space, but as we are in His precious Son. He looks at us in our vile brokenness and chooses by His grace to see us in the same light He sees Christ, with all the perfect fellowship and love that perspective entails.

He sees us as we are guaranteed to ultimately become, for He who has begun a good work in us will complete it.

Grace is that aspect of divine behavior that rewards even the slightest holiness with riches beyond conception. For a glass of water given to someone in need, we are given the entire Universe in return. For the slightest inkling of true faith mountains are moved, the world rearranged, eternal life in a new Heavens and a new Earth is bestowed.

Despite these pictures, the grace of God is beyond our ability to grasp because it is so…huge. All of Creation cannot contain it. Our finite minds would explode if shown its true extent, yet its benefits are promised for all eternity by a Creator who sacrificed His Son on our behalf to demonstrate the surety of His guarantee.

Grace is the foundation of forgiveness. It is the receiving of life when death would be more than just. It is light and love where darkness and hatred abound.

Consequently, failure in the eyes of God - the only failure that counts eternally, is to fall short of the grace of God. To continually and willfully ignore the goodness of God, to deliberately overlook, rather than looking carefully.

Now to be lawful recipients of that grace has one prerequisite: to be in Christ.

In turn, being in Christ  has one prerequisite, faith, even as small as a mustard seed. Faith that Christ is the Son of God who died as a sacrifice in your place and on your behalf, and rose again on the third day.

Faith that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Falling short of this grace is catastrophic. It is an irremediable act of stubborn, gritted-teeth, foot-stomping self-centeredness that denies the existence and goodness of God and in its place substitutes self-reliance.

And self-reliance, given who and what we are, is like attempting to circumnavigate the oceans of this planet without a vessel, chained to an anchor. 

There is NO chance of succeeding.

The world demands success on it own fallen terms that are largely antithetical to God.

The world's motto is "what have you done for me lately?"

In utter contrast, God implores us to seek His face and help and mercy in time of need. That is the access we are provided by faith through His inestimable grace.

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3, NKJV).

As in all things regarding Christ our Lord and Savior, there is no comparison.

Substitutes

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. (Hebrews 12:14-17, NKJV).

My heart goes out to those young people coming of age in the world today, and to the children who come after them.

While the planet is not facing all out war, or imminent manmade annihilation (yet), as it did in the previous century with World War II and the Cold War, it is facing pervasive global economic collapse that will likely result in widespread chaos and anarchy.

This can already be seen in Greece and France, with Entitlement Riots undermining civic order and the financial stability of whole populations, and the trend lines showing more of this (and worse) to come.

The U.S. may have a few years left, depending on the outcome of the next Presidential election, but even that is likely to be a reprieve, not a resolution.

Much of the outward collapse can be traced to an inward moral collapse. The priorities and values of modern societies, particularly in the West, serve to destroy, rather than strengthen the foundation needed for peaceful living and a future based on realistic, rather than delusional, hope.

The evidence is everywhere and undeniable.

Young people in the West are being propagandized with moral relativism and situational ethics. They are being spoon fed a deceitful gruel that says there are no absolutes, nothing is of intrinsic value, and self-worth is based on how "awesome" the experiences of momentary joy or satisfaction prove to be.

This is a recipe for personal implosion and existential disaster, especially in the face of the impending crises looming over the horizon. We are growing a generation fed on substitutes rather than the real things that nourish and make life worth living, and when the facade inevitably crumbles, so too will those young lives, and the society that was meant to sustain them.

Without a desire for holiness - that substantive quality that drives men and women to do right and to be godly, even at great personal cost - there can be no lasting peace and security. When the underlying priority is to be "awesome" in the ways of the world, eventually and inevitably, disappointment and disillusion result.

The young man coming up in the world provided with all the accoutrements of a pleasant life by good fortune and affluent parents, suddenly finds himself faced with the crushing weight of reality when those ephemeral supports dissolve under insurmountable debt and hardship.

Where does he turn? To his lightweight college degree? He is one of a million, equally trained and bereft of employment prospects desperately searching for a sustainable income. Does he look to enter a real trade? For most youth today, that is an alien concept.

Does he look to his family? Tragically, the vast majority of traditional families today are one-generational. Extended multigenerational families are virtually nonexistent, and these are being dissolved by the same forces of relative morality impacting society as a whole. Consequently, the young man finds himself unsupported and ill-equipped to cope with the hard realities of life without hope. 

If he survives at all in this amoral environment, he embarks on either one or another of two paths: cynical opportunism, or ruthless despair.

The first course leads to unprincipled usury and manipulation. Other people become objects to be used and/or discarded; means to an end. Relationships devolve into crass, superficial entities that are maintained only as long as they render some kind of return on investment. 

When that is no longer the case, when these are deemed unworthy of the time and effort needed to sustain them, the relationships are thrown away, like toxic medical waste, or aborted body parts - with the consequences and broken hearts be damned.

The second course, ruthless despair, leads to barbarism and sadistic cruelty. Sometimes this takes the form of outright criminal behavior and violent crime. At others, it manifests itself more subtly, with conscious slander, and what has been termed the "politics of personal destruction". In every case, the empowering motive energizing the destructive behavior is rage born of utter hopelessness.

It is no wonder why the statistical suicide rate among young people in this country and Europe is the highest it has ever been. Crisis itself is not the cause. As a nation, we have faced existential crises in the past and have risen to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to our future.

No, it is crisis without hope, meaning or purpose, for in our quest to destroy absolute truth to free us from the moral accountability of our actions, we have replaced it with the thinnest soup possible, making all thought of self-sacrifice, doing what is right, and yes, holiness, appear futile and worthless.

Never before in this nation's history has the pursuit of goodness been so devalued. Never before have we implicitly and explicitly taught our children that the virtues of family loyalty, commitment, nobility, courage, honor, honesty, integrity, and godliness are a "fool's game".

We teach this as a society by our words and deeds; by our literature, entertainment media, by our public debates over the very value and origin of human life itself.

We are bringing up generation after generation of increasingly amoral children, who will no doubt one day be in the position to decide whether the continued existence of their elders is worth the dwindling resources to maintain.

Divorce, abortion, euthanasia, political and ethnic "cleansing" are all here. Now. There is no reason to believe that these will decrease over time, and every reason to predict the opposite.

Is this gloom and doom? Or a simple, honest assessment of reality?

Clearly, it is still possible for many to live in denial. The evidence of this pervasive degradation can, for now, still be ignored, and life can be lived with blinders on in that quest for the "awesome good life".

Yet, it is also clear, just beneath the papery-thin surface of civility, that a day of reckoning is approaching.

The Bible is full of prophecies regarding the chaos and destruction of the "last days". Until recently, with the advent and advancement of mass weapons of destruction, planet-wide communication and information networks, and our increasing reliance on technology for global commerce, these prophecies were dismissed out of hand by "modern" academia and the cultural movers and shakers. 

But now, what seemed impossible, is becoming increasingly likely. Even the most irreligious skeptic is proclaiming clarion warnings of the impending destruction of our world, whether it be from Anthropomorphic Global Warming, Pollution, Nuclear Energy, Chemical and Biological Warfare, Terrorism, or a myriad of other causes, the perception that the end is near is on the rise.

Hopelessness, rather than hope is the result, because we have pursued pleasure, rather than holiness; substituted man for God. The encroaching darkness IS judgment - the consequence of continuing the long and futile war against our Maker.

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13, NKJV).

There remains, however, a Light in the darkness. There is a Way that leads to Life rather than death. There is Hope and a Peace that passes all understanding.

We find it by discarding all the substitutes and seeking the One true source of goodness and love; by casting off the bankrupt relativism of modern beliefs (though, in truth, it is as ancient as the Devil himself), and putting on the holiness of Christ.

We can't do this ourselves, in our own feeble strength. We must first and foremost seek Him, and then He will transform and empower us to be increasingly like He is - good and just and loving and righteous… and holy.

And we can never be perfectly these things this side of Heaven, but we can accept the gift that He has offered through His death and Resurrection. And while the gift is free, the consequences of appropriating that gift through faith is guaranteed to be painful, at least for a little while.

He promises that we will lose most, if not all, of what the world considers valuable and worthwhile, perhaps in the process, even losing our lives in the here and now.

We may no longer be popular, or looked upon with favor. We may be reviled and called evil. Even those in our own household or from our own families will come to despise us and hold us in self-righteous contempt.

But in potentially losing all that the world has to offer, we gain God Himself, the very author of Reality. And in gaining Him, we gain all that He is and has, and that Pearl Beyond Price, eternal life in His Presence.

Not as an undifferentiated spirit or an amorphous consciousness, but as unique individuals, made in His image, fully corporeal, fully alive, and filled with unspeakable joy.

To obtain that reward, we need only believe in Him. There is no jihad we have to wage. No Crusade we have to undertake. 

We need only to forswear the empty substitutes of this life, and embrace Him and His holiness.

Congenital Invalids

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:12-13, NKJV).

I don't care whether you've just aced the gold medal in the Olympics, you are a cripple. You were born that way.

Each one of us, at the very point when our humanity commences at conception, are congenital invalids. We are spiritually deformed and dysfunctional, and there is no treatment regimen or therapy that will completely cure us this side of Heaven.

But God, who is rich in mercy, has given us His Son, and the Son, through faith in His sacrifice and resurrection from the dead, has given us His Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:14, NKJV).

Until that day of our final physical regeneration, Christ has given us the means to begin the journey down that path of healing - our sanctification. He has created in us a new heart, and made us alive together with Him so that what was once dead in trespasses and sin, is now alive and new.

This transformation begins at conversion, the heart-and-soul-deep confession of our faith in Christ Jesus, but that is only the first step in our walk with Him, unless He has ordained for us a deathbed conversion like the thief on the Cross - and that can happen.

But beloved, if you haven't been called home yet to Heaven, it is because you still have a job to do in this life. The goals may be richly unique to each one of us, but be assured that your time here has not ended because you are still gainfully employed - by Him. For His glory and your edification.

No matter how infinitely varied each of our individual job descriptions may be, the above verse is a succinct encapsulation of the intent and purpose of all. And unlike mere human employers, Christ not only provides the tasks, but He also empowers us through His Spirit to carry them out, and then rewards us as if we did it all ourselves.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).

Essentially, we are to come alongside to exhort and encourage the kind of righteousness that leads to life and wholeness. Not the superficial kind that makes us feel self-satisfied, or puts in place an acceptable facade that looks decent on the outside.

No, it is the inward, often invisible, painful and costly righteousness that rips out the old nature to make room for the new; that puts to death our inherent sinfulness so that the new nature may rise unfettered in glory.

That is what this verse points to, and the world, and even our own unregenerate flesh, hates it with an undying passion.

The devil and his evil minions and allies in the world would much prefer the outward kind of decency that is only skin deep. The kind that anesthetizes and inoculates a soul against any true righteous transformation while providing a deadly and false example to others. The ultimate in placebo cures and spiritual snake oil.

To really strengthen the hands and the feeble knees, takes an investment of time and energy and commitment and self-sacrifice that makes gestation and birth seem like a picnic.

To really make straight paths for your [own] feet, means that you must follow the path of good forged by the Great Shepherd over a terrain of unmitigated evil, no matter what the cost, following the example of our Lord Christ Himself.

And all this not for your own praise and glory, but for His, so that our congenital defects, rather than inevitably worsening with time, are healed forever.

One day, no matter how broken and bent we are physically, no matter how many dents and scrapes, we will receive our new bodies that will never sicken or die or weaken.

Until then, we are to engage in our new life now, leading others through love and truth, like wounded soldiers helping each other on the battlefield, to the safety and assurance that comes only in Christ.

The Peaceable Fruit of Righteousness

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11, NKJV).

The goal of divine chastening, like that of parental chastening, is godly sorrow leading to true repentance. Over time, and applied consistently, or in God's case, applied perfectly in every way, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Not all pain in the life of a believer is indicative of the Father's correction, for such things come to the Christian for other reasons, as well. But make no mistake, when the Lord disciplines His child, it hurts. It is supposed to hurt, for pain is the great attention getter and behavior changer. Without it we would be, in our sinful state, the very devils of Hell. 

So while no chastening seems to be joyful for the present as it is being inflicted, because of the godly result, we are not to despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged by it. In fact, if we subject ourselves to Him in every way, not just peace, but joy is ours in Christ. It is a fair trade. It is the only transaction that enables escape from eternal damnation.

Chastening by the hand of our loving Father, like discipline by the hand of a loving parent, is ultimately a cause for rejoicing, for it says we are His legitimate sons and daughters; that He cares for us too much to let us go our own way uncorrected, knowing that the end of those things is death.

So what is that peaceable fruit of righteousness? Why is it so desirable?

All human action bears some kind of fruit. Most of it, especially that grown in our natural state, is rotten right from the start. The fruit of sin is the opposite of nourishing. It is poison for which there is only one antidote. Christ. In contrast, the fruit of righteousness gives life, and beyond that, peace. Peace from guilt. Peace from the fear of strife or retaliation. The peace that comes from following the very Prince of Peace, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. It is peace that comes from pleasing God through faith. It is peace that passes all understanding.

Being right with God is the only true safety. There is NO security in the world without God, and no rest, for nothing but evil is guaranteed without Him - the evil of men, or circumstances, or the ultimate evil of death itself. These are the defaults, rife with loss and pain and suffering - for even the most prosperous sinner is on the inevitable road to the grave, and the judgment that comes after. Again in contrast, the duly chastened child of God can have this eternal consolation - that whatever evil befalls in this life, it is only for a little while in comparison to the unimaginable blessing of the life to come.

Righteousness itself comes with its own inherent peace precisely because to be righteous must include love, joy, long-suffering, kindness, goodness and self-control. It is not mere intellectual correctness or factual accuracy, it is a bone-deep, cell-deep, soul-deep state of being that is a reflection of the Son of God Himself. For our sin He gives us His righteousness, and we become like Him.

God's righteousness and peace are desirable because following His lead takes the guesswork out of living. His children know what path to take, what choice to make, and how to respond to whatever life throws at us. There is no such thing as situational ethics or nuanced choice. There is no refuge in deceit. There is no uncertainty as to whether we keep our word, or decline to take advantage of someone. There is a safeguard against temptation, which if we submit, protects us from the dire consequences of succumbing to our own sin. It is a shield and hedge of protection - a strong tower from our enemies. It is shelter beyond anything the fallen world has to offer.

Now a final point.

The righteousness of God is not an odious catalog of do's and don'ts. It is not a self-congratulatory checklist that we can tick off at the end of the day, or on our deathbed, patting ourselves on that back assured that God now owes us something. Jesus made that perfectly clear in His parables regarding the unprofitable servant who by doing what is right, does only the bare minimum of what is already expected and required.

No, the righteousness of God is not a striving, but a surrender. It is the laying down of your own debased sovereignty, and yielding to His. It is the knowing what is right and true from His word, and simply allowing Him to empower you through His Spirit to walk in His ways, rather than in your own twisted ones. It is obedience through love, not fear.

Be assured that self-righteousness of any kind is a delusion. If you are the one on the throne of your life, you are inevitably an evil ruler, despite whatever appearances otherwise. You cannot do what is right without Him, for there is none good, no not one.

So discard the illusion. Submit to His correction and chastisement, and be conformed into the image of His Son who died that you might live.

Then, and only then, will you even begin to taste the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Subjection

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. (Hebrews 12:09-10, NKJV).

Where submission is a voluntary act between equals, subjection is a rational acknowledgment of a superior authority. In both instances, respect is the key component.

Don't get me wrong. Human beings are entirely capable of being disrespectful and irrational. In fact, that kind of rebellion is inherently what we pursue as fallen creatures. But even the most rabid rebel, when faced with a clearly superior force, will submit.

The argument in this verse is from lesser to greater, following the formula "if B is fact, then A, which is a much more intensive form of B, must be an even more significant fact." To agree with the first premise is to admit to the inevitability of the second.

Thus, if corrective human fathers are paid respect, then a holy and perfect Heavenly Father must also be worthy of respect. And in this context, respect bespeaks obedience.

A couple of additional points bear discussion.

Loving Christian fathers are tasked by their Creator with the responsibility of correcting their children's natural tendency toward sin and rebellion. This correction may take many forms, but the end result is always the same: to provide guidance toward God and away from the sinfulness of the world.

The most effective guidance is, of course, leading by example. "Do what I say AND what I do", because godliness is benchmarked when a man's good words match his good deeds. That is the only human form of correction worthy of respect. And even that is subject to the vagaries of the human father's inherent sinfulness, and the eventual growth into adulthood of his children, and/or the father's eventual demise (which is what few days refers to).

In stark contrast, since God is by definition good, and is always superior. His correction is, like He Himself, everlastingly perfect, with the ultimate goal of making us holy and conforming us into the image of His beloved Son.

This is all for our profit because becoming partakers of His holiness - becoming progressively more godly - is the best possible outcome of our existence. The only outcome that escapes the condemnation we otherwise deserve.

And here's the rub in all that - our view of God. Or more precisely, the world's uninformed and willfully ignorant view of God as a tyrannical cosmic killjoy. In reality, it is the world system that is degrading, violent, oppressive, unjust, irrational, selfish, and deadly.

Increasingly in this modern Information Age, ranting and reviling against God and His character is reaching epidemic proportions. The calling of evil good and good evil is the clarion cry of modern enlightenment.

It is an epic struggle to fight against this pervasive tide. Disparagement and despicable mockery of holiness and morality is everywhere.

The only sure-fire remedy is to readily be in subjection to the Father. This means to put off the deceit of the world's so-called wisdom, and to know and live by the wisdom of God.

In turn, this requires investment of time in studying His word (the knowing part), and cultivating trust in His sovereign authority over all the details of your individual life (the living by part).

Ultimately, we are God's subjects, whether we acknowledge that fact or not. For now, He allows the illusion of independence and gives us the choice to submit to His rightful authority by our choice through faith.

But there comes a time in each person's existence, when he breathes his last, when God's authority is unequivocally revealed, and his knee will bow and his tongue confess that God is Lord.

Be in subjection now, as a son or daughter to a loving Father. Or foolishly wait for the subjection that will come as a criminal to a Judge.

Now, through faith, mercy and clemency will be the result. But then, when choice is no longer possible, the result is a sentence of eternal destruction.

What If

What if Hell were real?

For one thing, all we would know about it authoritatively would be from the Bible.

In turn, that would lend credence to the premise that Heaven was real, as well, since the same Bible is also the authoritative source of information for that, too.

Further, if both Hell and Heaven were real places, as counterintuitive and preposterous as that would seem from a naturalistic worldly viewpoint, then all of the Bible is best taken seriously, since Heaven and Hell are the central themes of redemption, and redemption is the overarching theme of all of Scripture. Simply put, it details how to avoid the one, and attain the other.

So far, so good, yeah?

Here comes the disturbing part - as unimaginably good as Heaven is revealed to be, Hell is equivalently unimaginably bad. It is, in fact, the epitome of bad. There can be no conceivably worse fate than being imprisoned forever in Hell.

But what does that mean?

From what we are told, human beings are immortal. Conscious, and eventually tactile, existence endures after death without end. There is sensation. There is awareness with no cessation. There is no need or ability to sleep or become unconscious. For in Heaven there would be no desire for such, and in Hell, the un-requitable longing for those very things would be unendingly beyond reach or hope of attainment.

In either Heaven or Hell, you are inescapably alive and acutely sensate. In Heaven, these are blessings beyond measure. In Hell, unendurable torments - but endure them you must, for there is no escape, no hope of respite, no hope of relief. 

This is almost impossible to picture. All we experience here on earth, no matter how prolonged, comes with the prospect of an end. Sometimes the end is brought about by the simple passage of time, or by exhaustion leading to fitful sleep, or some other form of unconsciousness. Eventually, even the thought of death brings some hope.

But in Hell, the only prospect is more of the same unending torment.

Hard to really imagine, I know. But if Hell is real, then what I've attempted to describe is real, no matter how unthinkable.

Now here is the truly nightmarish stuff, so be forewarned.

Imagine, if you will, being trapped in an enclosed space, just large enough to accommodate your body laying flat on your back. There is nothing but solid blackness around you and hard, impenetrable surfaces surrounding you. 

You are isolated to the point of feeling as if you are the only being in existence. You can't move, not even to turn over, or bend your knees. You are physically capable of movement, but there is no space to make it possible.

There is absolutely nothing to distract you from your inescapable circumstances. You are alive, excruciatingly awake and aware, and entrapped forever. 

You can think and emote and have perfect recall of all of the opportunities you rejected that were presented to you to avoid this fate by simply accepting the gift that Jesus offers. You have no choice but to experience all of the "if only" regrets and unbearable remorse in raw, soul destroying intensity. Forever.

Would that be mental, emotional and physical torment sufficient enough to be described as immersed in an everlasting "lake of fire"? Or as being endlessly consumed by a "worm that never dies"? Or abiding forever in "outer darkness"?

If Hell were real, it would be like this… or worse.

Now, you can choose to discount or ignore these pictures, and live your scant few years on this planet striving to deny what will be ultimately undeniable.

Or you can accept the gift of redemption offered through the death of God's Son on the Cross, believing that He took upon Himself the payment for your sin.

What if Hell were real?

The only sane response would be abject terror and an unstoppable desire to go to the only Person who could save you, and to cling to Him with all that you are.

Jesus is available today. Today is the day of salvation.

Tomorrow may be too late, for one day, you will breathe your last.

Don't let that day come upon you without Him.

The Test

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. (Hebrews 12:07-08, NKJV).

How do you know God cares?

How do you know He cares about you, meaning what is the proof positive that you have actually been adopted into His family?

In the previous passage, the exhortation was to accept the chastening of the Lord, knowing that He scourges every one whom He receives - in essence, shredding the old self so that your new creaturehood can emerge. 

Scourging is painful. The picture that comes to mind is Jesus being given 39 lashes before His crucifixion. The whip used was a Roman flagellum or scourge, thick leather straps embedded with sharp stones or pieces of glass.

But in these verses, based on the form of the Greek word used, the emphasis is placed not on physical chastisement, but on the whole training of the human character and human morality through Divine nurturing.

Simply put, if your life is without this, then you are not His. In other words, if you go day to day, blithely uncaring  and carefree, with all things working out to your personal satisfaction, comfortable with the world and your place in it, then regardless of what you call yourself, you are not under God's training. You are illegitimate and not sons (or daughters).

The Christian is at odds with the world system. We are "behind enemy lines", and the condition of the battlefield is such that we are targeted by the world, the enemy of our souls, and our own old nature - our flesh. But in addition to those hardships, we are also the focus of God's instructional nurturing that prepares us for immortality in the New Heavens and New Earth.

This chastening takes many forms, but all have the same goal - to conform us into the image of God's Son. To share in His suffering so that we may learn to share in His life.

So then, the test of God's love for you is this: do you love your life on this Fallen planet? Then you will lose it.

It is not as simple an equation as might seem, for even the most vile, self-satisfied sinner sees room for improvement in his or her circumstances. Nothing is perfect for long. But the longing for improvement in the life of a child of God is Christ-centered as opposed to self-centered. It is a longing of an other-worldly character focused on things above, and not on the world.

As is the longing for improvement so is the nature of our suffering. You see, we are King's children under training. This means that, unlike mere humans of the world, our suffering is part of a syllabus, devised by an Infinite Intelligence for a specific purpose: to make us fit for life in the Kingdom of God.

The world, frankly, thinks such ideas are worthy of medical or psychiatric treatment, but we know better. We understand that He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?

We are being perfected through suffering just as Christ was perfected as our sacrifice. Do not think it strange when you encounter various trials, the Apostle Peter writes, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:13, NKJV). This is part of the training.

For a Christian, you must suffer before joy. You must lose to gain. You must die to live. It is the only way to be transformed under God's guiding hand from a sinner worthy of eternal damnation, to a son or daughter bestowed with eternal blessing.

And if that is not happening to you, if you do not cry out from your own weakness and failure, if you do not look upon the sin of the world with a broken heart, if you do not long for personal godliness, if you are not convicted by your own sin, then you are not under His instruction… and you are not His.

Now there is a huge difference between conviction and condemnation. The one motivates, the other discourages. The one results in a course correction, the other in paralysis. The one is from your Heavenly Father through His Spirit within you, the other is from the Devil of Hell himself.

And there is a huge difference between you own legalistic attempts to be godly, and having your behavior modified from the inside out by God through His chastening. The first gives you cause for pride and self-satisfaction. The second has you on your face in humility and thanksgiving.

And finally, Christian life on this world is not devoid of joy. On the contrary, underlying all that He brings us through, is a contentment and joy unspeakable - knowledge and certainty of our purpose and our God that makes us more than conquerors, and enables us to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2, NKJV).

The Exhortation

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:05-06, NKJV).

Do not despise. Do not be discouraged. Understand that the chastening of the Lord only comes to those whom He loves and has received.

From time immemorial, moral men have asked why do the wicked prosper. The Psalms of David and Asaph are rife with such questions, and each time the inquiry is voiced it is answered by some refrain of, "but then I remembered the goodness of the Lord".

The Scriptures provides three basic purposes for suffering in this life: to deepen faith, to provide comfort to others going through similar trials, and chastening - often called correction.

Raising children Biblically, parents understand both the effectiveness and wisdom of disciplining their children, for an undisciplined child is a grief and a heartbreak in so many ways, and in modern times, the effect of ungodly parenting is most often seen in real enmity between child and parent. As the years pass, and the child becomes mobile, verbal, and increasingly rebellious, the parent cannot wait to be shut of them.

In prosperous times, this takes the form of away camps or trips, where significant sums are spent to send the problematic progeny away for varying lengths of time, so that the parents can have peace.

In the West, this is most often visible during Summer, when public schools are not in session, and children are home with at least one parent 24/7. Come September, the secret, and sometimes not-so-secret joy of being able to foist the child back onto the school system descends on many households - you can almost hear the collective national sigh of relief. This is tragic.

And it is notably untrue for Christian homes where the parents have followed the principles of godly child-rearing, teaching the children the way that they should go so when they are old they will not depart from it.

In short, families that have not established and reinforced godly and loving parental authority are, in many ways, breeding grounds for chaos, and later adult irresponsibility.

It is unsurprising then, in the world's long war against God, that the family and family values are being increasingly undermined by the permissiveness of "popularly accepted wisdom". Nowhere is that insidious effect more evident than in the public disrespect shown by children for their parents. Grocery aisle negotiations, gritted-teethed threats, and out and out bribery are often overheard in the marketplace, sometimes escalating to damaging outbursts of wrath bordering on abuse.

In contrast, loving Christian parents have a very different relationship with their children, and it is a picture of the relationship God desires with His children. These families regard one another with respect and love, and desire time together to enjoy the fellowship only possible in Christ. The basis of this harmony is firmly established on the foundation of the Biblical roles of father, mother and child.

The believing father takes responsibility for protection, provision, and discipline, based on the authority given to him by God. He is the servant-leader of the family, always putting the needs of his wife and children before his own needs. When this is done in the power of the Holy Spirit, the parents become beloved and respected anchor points for the children. 

While this is considered controversial and old-fashioned (some even term it as vile) today, for generations in this country it was the norm. As a husband and father the man is given the solemn and sacred responsibility for the physical and spiritual well-being of those in his care. He and his wife are tasked with bringing each of their children to faith in Christ. It is their most important function.

This necessarily entails correction, chastening and discipline of the children. This must be done consistently, unemotionally, and in accordance with Biblical principles. The love and authority of Christ must not only be taught, but lived out in the parents' own example.

Disobedience, disrespect, and a bad attitude are childhood offenses that require correction. A parent's directives need to be obeyed the first time, every time. When this bedrock is firmly in place, the relationship between parents and child can proceed as intended from the beginning, with mutual love, respect, loyalty, support, and a desire for fellowship. Over time, the mutual rewards of a close and loving family knit together in Christ are beyond compare.

Add to this the unity in Christ of father and mother, and the Christian home becomes a solid refuge, the center of a nurturing environment from which spring the next generation of Christ's followers. 

That is God's plan, and has been from the beginning. And He models it perfectly with us, His children by faith. That is why we are exhorted here not to despise and to not be discouraged when we ourselves are put under correction by God. Not only does it serve the obvious intention of righting our course, but it is also proof that He loves and has received us into His family via adoption as sons and daughters through Christ.

What a stirring and precious reminder, especially when we feel His hand heavy upon us.

Later we will discover that no chastening is joyful for the present, but we are to rejoice at what it yields afterwards in our lives and in our walk with Christ.

As believer's we will have tribulation, and this will come in many forms. When these trials take the form of chastening from God it is because His children have not followed that still small voice within, but have proceeded according to the dictates of their own sinful hearts.

While it is impossible to know for certain whether a trial in someone's life is due to sin, it is sadly evident in many of the most infamous cases. Influential Christian leaders who have fallen in sin often end up with their reputations disgraced publicly, their ministry destroyed, and their congregations badly damaged.

Men and women who knowingly practice sin, willfully, rebelliously, and with premeditation, are often shocked when what they thought was hidden becomes shouted from the housetops. When necessary, the consequences can be devastating.

But there are also far more subtle, and private, rebukes and corrections from our loving King. Cherished plans go awry. Stubborn attitudes cause seemingly endless strife. Life just seems inexplicably hard and there is no sense of peace until the sin is confessed and the behavior is changed. God will use every influence and circumstance to effect His will in our lives - other people, finances, health - whatever it takes. It behooves us to obey long before anything drastic becomes needful.

And all these are intended precisely to result in godly sorrow, not self-condemnation, contempt or discouragement, and it is that sorrow that leads to repentance, and a real and lasting change of heart.

Know this as well, repentance looks like something. It is not just words, it is a softening of the heart towards what is right and a turning away from sin to God.

Think of it this way. When a loving father sees his beloved child willfully engaging in behavior that will only cause danger or damage or heartache, the least loving thing he could do would be to allow it to continue without consequences. That would only serve to reinforce the damaging behavior.

No, a loving father would take what steps were necessary to bring to the errant child's mind what is good and right, and to exhort and encourage, and even demand, that the child change his or her ways. The father would love far too much to do nothing, for ultimately doing nothing would only result in lasting harm.

God loves us too much to allow us to become hardened to the deceitfulness of sin. He will chasten, rebuke and correct when necessary. It is a hallmark of His love. 

To be without chastening is to be without God, pure and simple.

Striving Against Sin

You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:04, NKJV).

Sin, our sin, comes in so many forms, and so easily to us, that we really don't know what true resistance to sin looks like.

Don't get me wrong. Many give temptation to sin a good fight now and then, and many Christians are more than conquerors of some of the habitual sins that plagued them prior to salvation. With their new hearts, new world view, renewed minds, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, these converts have put off old behaviors almost overnight, never to take them up again.

Yet, this side of Heaven, each one of us struggles with remnants of our old nature and, more than we care to confess, succumb almost instantly to temptation. Our resistance is lowered. Our ability to strive is limited. We are not nearly as antagonistic to our sin as we would like to think. Or need to be.

Covetousness, outbursts of wrath, foolish talking, evil speaking, gossiping, lack of faith, ingratitude, un-forgiveness, lack of love, lack of self-control, violence, pride, boasting, disrespect, lust, intemperance, and on and on - are treated as friends instead of enemies; like comfortable old drinking buddies with whom we long to reminisce. And make no mistake, these are the things that make life on this planet miserable. 

For everyone.

Can you imagine a world absent of such commonplace evil? Go ahead. Try. 

After a minute, the mental picture fades into cliche or incomprehension. It is like coming up with a new color. But again, make no mistake, it is sin that makes life miserable. Without it, this life would be Heaven on earth.

Now Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Author of our Faith, became Man to die on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin. But He did not just make an appearance on the world stage, accomplish His mission and depart. He lived as one of us, from conception onward, and was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.

Truthfully, this is impossible for me to fully comprehend. I do not doubt it for a second, but it, too, is like that never-before-seen-color. I just can't picture it.

But I can get a small glimpse of what agony a sinless Man must have suffered in striving against temptation. Perhaps, it was that very battle which caused Jesus to sweat blood that horrible and lonely night in the Garden of Gethsemane immediately prior to His brutal arrest and murder.

To be God, to have all power and knowledge, and to experience the many horrors of this life without taking action in His own strength must have been an endless and incredible temptation, and the stakes could not have been higher. Had Christ succumbed to any of it whatsoever, Redemption would have been impossible.

In comparison, any temptation we suffer is as nothing, and yet we fail continuously to resist.

I am not arguing here for legalism, for the letter of the Law kills, without the Spirit. It deadens the heart and mind and engenders the fiercest kind of self-congratulatory pride.

But I am illustrating yet another aspect of the magnificence of our Savior.

We fail constantly. He failed not one iota. His success is our forgiveness. And blessing. And eternal life.

Do you see even more why He is worthy of all power, honor, glory, dominion, gratitude, worship and praise?

He did resist to bloodshed. He did strive against sin - for us, because we could not; not for a nanosecond, even if we had all eternity to try.

If you don't understand why God had to redeem us through such mystifying means as sending His Son to become one of us, to resist sin, and to die, then you do not understand what it means to be a holy, righteous, loving, merciful, and just God. 

That's OK, as long as you believe that for Him to be just, and the justifier of sinners, Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection were actual and necessary; that He became sin for us that we could become His righteousness in Him.

Finally, it is only as you walk long and hard with the Lord in this life that you become sensitized to just how evil and pervasive is sin, and how much of a captive it has made you and the world. It is only as your perception of His goodness is deepened that you see the utter wickedness of your own heart, and you cry out like Peter, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

Unbelievers do not think this way, and they hate you, like they hated Him, for bringing to light by whatever means the darkness and deadness of living without Christ in this world.

If you doubt this for one second, just humbly voice your allegiance to the Son of God, and His teachings and ways, and, as consistently as possible, have your words and deeds match.

You will be amazed at how unpopular and reviled you actually become - even by those of your own family, or those whom you thought were staunch allies.

What they are really hating is not you, but Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Consider Him Who Endured

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Hebrews 12:03, NKJV).

From looking unto Jesus as a light in the darkness, a guide on the path to godliness, and the author and finisher of our faith, we now are exhorted to consider Him.

Looking is a conscious sensory act, a turning of the eyes (or the mind's eyes) from all else and fixing them on one thing. 

To consider is a conscious mental act, a focusing of the engine of thought in one direction, from start to finish, like a sojourner embarking down a road of many possibilities with the intent of thoroughly exploring each one.

You might think that the Son of God would be guaranteed an earthly existence of security and comfort. You would be wrong.

Jesus came to pay the price of sin, to die horribly at the hands of ruthless and hate-filled sinners despite having done nothing to warrant such enmity, and in fact, having actively engaged in only good.

He was deserving of nothing but praise and gratitude, and received instead the vilest of hostility and abuse from the very sinners He came to save.

So then, not only is He the author and finisher of our faith, but also the model and example of how we ourselves, His children by faith, are to endure the hostility of the world.

For we are most certainly in enemy territory. Jesus Himself taught that there was no lasting middle ground of neutrality when it came to Him. Every human is either with Him or against Him. Those who are with Him are promised to suffer the same antagonism that He did, and the exhortation here is to focus on how He endured, lest we become weary and discouraged in [our] souls.

Soul-weariness is the most debilitating kind of exhaustion, effecting even the ability of the physical body to heal or survive. Studies have shown, for example, that orphaned infants languish and sometimes die, not because they are unfed, but because they are un-held and unloved.

The prognosis for recovery from any life-threatening condition is often directly proportional to the victim's will to live, regardless of the extent of injuries, trauma, or illness.  Hopelessness and discouragement are often fatal.

So then, what is the example of endurance that Jesus provides? I see seven main things, though more could be listed.

He returned good for evil.

When reviled He did not revile in return.

Though possessing all power, He forgave rather than exacted retribution.

He placed every detail of His life in the hands of a faithful and just Creator.

He surrendered vengeance to God.

He loved unfailingly rather than hated.

And even in the most extreme final circumstances of His life, He focused on others, not Himself.

All of these characteristics are detailed beautifully in the gospel accounts of His life and ministry on this planet, and lest you excuse yourself from following His example by arguing He was able to be the way He was because of His deity, He himself has destroyed that argument forever.

He proclaimed and proved repeatedly that He did nothing in His own strength. Every word, every teaching, every miracle, every thought and action was in perfect accordance with His Father's will, and in the power of the Holy Spirit - the very same will and power that is ours through faith in Christ.

If anything, His surrender to the Father, and His resisting temptation was far more wearying than any similar effort on our part because, though Man, He was also all-powerful God, and because of His perfect righteousness, sin itself was far more a horror than we could ever conceive.

We will discover in the very next verse, in fact, that resisting the temptation to sin for Him was akin to bloodshed.

So our own soul-weariness and discouragement will come in this life, but the Captain of our salvation has already shown us the way forward into being more than conquerors of all that assails us.

The Authority of Christ

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:02, NKJV).

There are some who deny the Deity of Christ, and by deity I specifically mean those aspects of Godhead that most defy human understanding - His eternality (no beginning and no end), and His all-encompassing authority.

The Gospel of John and other New Testament writers address the first issue, but Hebrews, as much or more than any other book, attends to Christ's authority. And it does so in a surprisingly simple refrain - Christ's exalted position at the throne of God.

In Hebrews Chapter 1, the writer quotes God Himself: But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8, NKJV). Then in Hebrews 8 and here, he specifically mentions Christ being seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Throughout human history, the right hand of the king has signified his sovereign authority. It was the hand of honor, and of life and death.

One motion of the royal scepter, typically held in the right hand, rendered unquestionable judgment that could not be breached or rescinded.

To stand at the right hand of the throne was to serve, but to sit there was to be co-regent, equal in authority and power.

Humans in our natural state crave power and despise authority. The first is motivated by both sin and fear. The second primarily by sin alone - the desire to throw off the yolk of God's authority and to be our own sovereign.

Left unchecked, these dual impulses inevitably lead to violent anarchy, to mob rule of the most inhuman (but really quintessentially human) kind.

Given the totality of recorded history, it makes perfect sense to distrust authority as embodied by human rulers and human institutions. One of the brilliant protective aspects of our form of government here in the U.S. is that it was established by men who trusted God, but held men themselves as irremediably corrupt. 

Thus our system of checks and balances and the bedrock principle that abuse of power and authority WILL inevitably occur.

The prescription: three co-equal branches of adversarial government - the Legislature, the Supreme Court, and the Executive; all to protect the citizenry from ourselves AND overreaching authority.

But the authority of Christ is entirely different. 

Instead of being held in suspicion, His sovereignty should be embraced as a great comfort to us. We are His children and subjects by faith, and He has proven His undying and immeasurable devotion to us by His momentous act of Self-sacrifice that paid the price of our sin, and gives us eternal life.

I can think of no greater, nor eloquent, nor succinct summary of this then Paul's exposition in his letter to the Philippians.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery [something to be held onto or grasped at all costs] to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV).

Note the three words the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use regarding Christ's deity and humanity: form, likeness, and appearance. These are telling and immensely significant, and much more could be written than I intend here, but know this:

He whose form is God, took on the essential form of Man, putting aside for a time all the privileges and power of Deity in His own right. 

And taking on the likeness of men (the entirety of those existential aspects that make humans human), and in every way the appearance of a man (comprising everything in a person which strikes the senses, the figure, bearing, discourse, actions, manner of life, etc. - the habitus of a man, as Strong's so precisely puts it) - He humbled Himself, to come, not as a powerful King, but as a sacrificial Lamb.

Focus on that last thought especially and be amazed. For the eternal, all-powerful Second Person of the Trinity of the Godhead, purposely, voluntarily, and out of filial obedience to the Father, made Himself lowly in order to be killed in a most horrific manner so that we (His subjects) could live in Him.

And in His humility He was exalted by God the Father, and given authority over all flesh as a Man. That Man, Jesus (note the emphasis on His human nature), is the one to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, not to His own glory, but to the glory of God the Father.

Do you see the comfort and confidence these truths should instill in us?

All the perfection, power, holiness, righteousness, goodness and intelligence of God, embodied in a Divine Human ruler, who has already demonstrated His love for us beyond anything we could ask or think.

It conceivably could have been very different. Christ could have exercised His authority in a much less assuring way. He could have manifested Himself as that Divine Dictator, that Holy Terror, that the world so often mischaracterizes Him to be, who squashes rebellious humanity without mercy, and without any chance of redemption.

But instead, He surprised us with an unimaginable demonstration of His love - something we could not have anticipated were it not for God's Word, and the evidence of the Cross.

Thus, the ultimate and superior authority of Christ is a strong tower and a shelter for His children by faith.

And while it is of the greatest assurance to us who believe in Him, to those who remain in rebellion, it will be a source of the greatest possible fear.

As forewarned in Revelation, there will come a Day when …the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, [will hide] themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and [say] to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17, NKJV).

Submit to His authority now, while it may be done by faith, so that you will be spared when His authority is revealed as inescapable in the judgment that is to come.