A Dropped Ball in the Pulpit

Yes, so today I dropped a ball.

During the sermon, I mentioned the discipline of God toward Covenant Members. If you are baptized, you are a part of the people of God, a member of the covenant of Grace where God pursues his people.

I believe God pursues his people. The point of discipline is to draw us back to himself. Often, this takes the form of a feeling in our gut that things just are not right. Sometimes, it is the consequences of our own sin, but it is NEVER EVER to be equated with the effects of the curse we all share.

This is what I did not say. You may have heard what I said and left thinking, “well, I have been faithful to the covenant, yet I got cancer” or “I have always pursued Jesus, but I filed bankruptcy, and my kids struggle everyday.”

There are a variety of struggles that we we all share and some will be unique that are simply effects of Adam and Eve’s choice to walk away from God.

In the agony, we can have joy that God is redeeming us and making us new.

There are other struggles that we endure, and if we are honest with ourselves, are only pursuing us because we are not pursuing Christ.

When you are suffering because you are breaking the covenant that your creator has called you to, you will know it. And the proper response is repentance, and clinging to the cross of Jesus.

If you are being faithful to the one who called you, and you still suffer, please know that this is only for a season and that the one who makes things new is in the process of restoring you.