I’m Not Giving Up
Editor’s Note: This devotional is taken from a blog entry on the It’s Your Mission trip blog. If you throw a bamboo stick through the window during class, you’ve lost your privilege of playing games that afternoon. Come back tomorrow and show me you can behave. I love you and I believe in second and third and fourth chances.
We have lots of little lessons and lots of moments when I feel like it’s futile, but lately I’ve begun to see change. Initially, they always met discipline with resistance, but little by little, I see transformation.
Sometimes they remind me a lot of myself. How many times have I been the rebellious child? How many times have I been the one who wants to make the rules and live without boundaries because I don’t realize the consequences and I think I know best.
I remember the verse in Hebrews 12 which reads: “My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you. Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a child… God rebukes us for our own good, so that we may share in His holiness. Certainly, no punishment is enjoyable in the moment we are receiving it —- it hurts; but if we learn the lesson, the result is a life of peace and righteousness.”
I thank God that in the moments when it seems futile, he doesn’t give up on me. No matter how many times I “spit on the floor” or “throw sticks through the window,” he waits for the change. He wants me to share in His holiness, to learn the lesson and reap a life of peace and righteousness. He waits for them too. And though the rest of the world might give up on them, he won’t. So I won’t, either.
Krista Edmonds was a long-term volunteer for Buckner in the community of El Cerrito, Guatemala.
To keep up with what our long- and short-term volunteers are doing with Buckner around the world, check out our missions blog.
Prayers of the Week:
-God, help us to accept with humility the discipline that comes from you. Help us to learn and grow from it, that we might live peacful and righteous lives.
-God, be with the children in El Cerrito. Put loving adults in their lives that will teach them and train them according to your word.
If you are interested in submitting a devotional for Buckner Faith Focus, please e-mail lhollon@buckner.org.
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