God is out to get you...to bless you His beloved child!

Many believers think that God is just waiting for them to make a mistake so He can punish them or let the devil have a go at them. They feel that it is up to them to make sure to obey in order to avoid punishment, even when Romans 3:20 says no flesh is made righteous by the deeds of the law; Without the Lord as our Righteousness, 100% obedience is required to avoid punishment and no one on earth can boast of this. Only by His grace can we be made righteous in His eyes.

This presentation of our "compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness" Father as a God whose sole desire is to catch us in sin so as to punish us and who prefers that we starve and grovel before He blesses us is the main theme of many sermons. Not so at all!

In Matthew 7:9-11, our Saviour Jesus says: "Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

Imagine waiting for your own children to make mistakes just so you can punish them. It's your job to make sure that they are well mannered and stay on the right track! Would you blame your child for touching an exposed electric cable in your home? It is your job to make sure that your home is childproof! If he breaks glass, your first reaction would be to hope that he didn't hurt himself. When he messes up and you correct him, it certainly isn't with things like sickness, disease or by letting a wicked maid or servant beat him up mercilessly!

You would never teach your child a lesson on the dangers of dashing into the road without looking by running him over with your car so that you can break "only one leg." You would never make your own child grovel and beg before you pay his school fees or feed him or take him on trips or buy him expensive gifts for the sole purpose of his enjoyment.

Proverbs 22:6 says 

"Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it." 

It is your job to train up your child so that he can be well-behaved.

In Christ, we have God as our Heavenly Father. He is our "Abba, Father." He is our Trainer! GOD IS LOVE. THE LORD IS OUR SHEPHERD. HE IS OUR TRAINER.

God is love, according to 1 John 4:8. He loves us more than we could ever love our kids. How could we for one moment think that our loving Father's approach to training us is "obey by fire by force or die" when even we do not do this with our own children?!! How could we for one moment think that our own heavenly Father will abandon us to figure out how to live a righteous life on our own when His own word says "Train up a child.....?" We are His very own children in Christ! Our children's good behaviour, comfort and happiness are our responsibility! So we help them as much as we can in our own limited way. How much more our Father in heaven who is the Almighty, the Trainer of all trainers, and who has blessed us with His Spirit to transform us to the image of Christ's glory in Him? We became His children the minute He caused us to accept Christ! IT IS HE WHO TRAINS US TO LIVE RIGHT!

If you are thinking "This approach is for kids and teenagers, not adults. Adults should be responsible enough to do what is right," 1 John 2:1-2 is for you:

"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

Bear in mind that law and grace don't mix so when one believes that keeping the Ten Commandments is what makes him righteous in God's sight, he has removed Christ from the equation of his salvation according to Galatians 5:4- 

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

To our heavenly Father, we are not just children. We are His little children. He sees that we don't know our left from our right but many of us don't know this.

Believers, only a housegirl will be afraid to knock on Madam's door in the middle of the night because she set her room on fire. Mummy and daddy's beloved little boy who knows that he is "of more value than many sparrows" will run to them for help.

Believers in Christ, God is not waiting in the wings to catch us in sin so He can punish us. Rather we are trained by saving grace as it is written in Titus 2:11-14 (MSG):

"God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered Himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people He can be proud of, energetic in goodness."

He makes us a people He can be proud of. He will help you do His will!

Believe Right and you will Live Right!