I’ve heard the term, “God is just a cosmic killjoy.” People say this around natural disasters. It seems they feel that it is His punishment for doing something going against His Law. When they want to live their lives their way and have nothing to do with God. Very much the same a Judah did in the time of Jeremiah. But as Christians, we live under grace and God has forgiven us. True but there are certain sins God has drastically punished individuals.
In Acts 5:1-11, a couple in the church saw what was going on with others that were selling their property and giving the money to the church. They too wanted in on this BUT they agreed they would keep some of the funds for themselves and lie about giving all of the funds to the church. When they were questioned by the church leaders separately, husband first, they told the same lie. You would think that when the wife came back and found out that her husband had died from telling the lie she would decide to tell the truth to prevent from dying herself. Nope, not this wife, she stuck to the story they agreed to and feel down dead just like her husband. These supernatural deaths caused a fear throughout the church. It taught them that God knows everything and you can’t hide anything from Him. Just think if this couple had gotten away with their lie, they might have told others about it, leading to a cancer of lies growing in the church. In Proverbs 6:16-19, we see a list of things God hates. Number two on that list is a lying tongue.
Sexual immorality pops up in the church in Corinth. It was something so bad that those who were of the world looked down on it. But the church in 1 Corinthians 5:2, Paul states that the church was proud of this guy sleeping with his dad’s wife. Paul corrects the church in that they should be mourning because of this guy’s sin and kicking him out of the church so he might repent and save his soul. Here we see not only is God disciplining the guy but the church and teaching them it is good to set healthy borders when dealing with toxic people. Eventually, the guy did repent and in 2 Corinthians we see he is allowed back in the church.
The first example both the husband and wife were given separate opportunities to repent from their corporate statement about the money and the each chose not to and like Judah were destroyed for their failure to repent of their sin. The second example we see the guy deciding to repent of his sin and being welcomed back into to not only fellowship with the church but also with God. All parents discipline their children because they love them and know what is best for them. God is the same, as our Heavenly Father, He knows what is best for us and at times He might have to discipline us to keep us from doing something that will hinder us from the life He has prepared for us.
(Photo by Dikaseva on Unsplash)
Bonnie Sue Writes 