From sorrow to peace

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. God’s training is puzzling, isn't it? It’s a mystery. In some ways it is like the discipline of a young child by a father. The lovingkindness and benefit of the discipline is overshadowed at the time by the sorrow it brings. In the moment, when we are being disciplined, we become aware of how we have disappointed our Father. In this context, we are being disciplined for our unbelief, and making choices on the basis of what we see and experience on the earth has consequences. Sometimes those consequences have a large splash zone and a long shelf life, which brings great sorrow in our lives. We can be encouraged to know that He’s preparing us for glory. The difficulties, trials, and suffering in our lives have a good purpose.  In the moment, we need to remember that through His Son’s sacrifice on the cross, He has taken away all of our sin that is exposed in the trial. Thankfully, the sin is powerless to separate us from Him and His love, and it is useful for training purposes. We need practice having our senses trained to discern good (the faithful response for His glory) and evil (the unbelieving response) as it says in 5:14. When we become aware of unbelief, we don’t usually leap for joy. It is sorrowful, but it is a sorrow that leads to repentance. We must lay aside the unbelief with its encumbrances, as the author told his readers in 12:1.  The result of our Father’s training brings great encouragement. Such discipline and training produce righteousness. Righteousness brings peace to the heart. As the author said, it is a “peaceful fruit.” For when we repent of unbelief and draw near to the throne of God for mercy and grace to love, we experience His peace. We are at peace with God because we are covered in the righteousness of Christ and have experienced His forgiveness. We are at peace with ourselves because we have repented of our unbelief, and our consciences are clear before God. We are at peace with all men because we don’t look at them as the cause of our trials. We recognize that they are sinners just like we are, and we forgive them as we have been forgiven. And last, we are at peace because we are living to love with Jesus. That’s what righteousness is. It’s walking in love toward our fellow man. So, we move from sorrow to peace.