God will punish His children??
Often, in the face of tragedies, deaths, disasters and unpleasant events, we find the statement: “it was the will of the Lord”. However, it is also known that He is love and incapable of evil acts. So, what to think? Does God punish?
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To answer this question, we find in the book of Hebrews, a characteristic of God-Father, “the Lord corrects those he loves and punishes whom he accepts as a son” (cf. Heb 12.6). So, we could close the subject and accept that God punishes and the Bible confirms this. However, the “dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, art. 12 “, the Church urges “the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words.”.
A father who punishes?
To understand what the letter to the Hebrews tells us, we need to observe what Jesus told us about the Father. In John 18.12, Jesus speaks of the shepherd who leaves all the sheep to get that one who was lost. Still in John 6.26-28, Christ makes reference to his father’s care in relation to birds and says: “You are far more valuable to the ‘ your Father ‘ than them!”. When we read these passages, do we still think of a father who punishes executioner?
Consequences of our own choices
It turns out that, often, it becomes easier to throw the blame on God, so do not assume the responsibility and the consequences of our own choices.
The Lord endowed us with a conscience and intelligence to understand the results of our acts. Often, we do not take into account that our options reach also people who are around us, and all this generates a result: “what someone has sown another will reap” (cf Galatians 5.7).
God doesn’t punish those ‘ who make mistakes, but out of love he may not interfere with the consequences of our choices so that we experience the error and this lets us take advantage of this to our growth.
True conversion
So that does not make God an executioner or Avenger. The intention of the Lord is one: a true conversion, and he knows that, in some situations, the pain of beginning a new life. Also suffering, when well lived, becomes a source of cleansing of our sins and the sins of the world.
Some people are afraid of God, so seek not to error, which does not allow them to act like children, but slaves. Others think of the reward that the Lord will give them by not making a mistake and measure their actions like greedy mercenaries. However, the entire Bible is intended to lead us to take the place of children, only in this way can we actually live and understand that “God treats us as His children. And what is the child that is not corrected by Father? “.
When we have in our hearts the certainty that we are beloved children of God, and that he wants to save us, what we went through what we live we see no more as punishment, but as opportunities that the Father uses to correct us and bring us closer to him.
Everything competes for the sake of loving God
“Everything happens for the good of those who love God” (cf. Rm 8.28). This is sure that we need to remember this forever in us. Not only the good things, but also the bad things help us for our good.
Let us ask God the grace to assume the place of beloved children, and so, no longer as slaves, we will see the Act of the father in our lives as Providence for our personal conversion.
God bless you all.
Paulo Pereira
José Paulo Neves Pereira was born in Nossa Senhora do Livramento (Bahia, Brazil). Is a member of the Canção Nova Community does missionary works in the Social Media sector of Canção Nova. Twitter: @paulopereiraCN