Hebrews 12:4

I've been thinking much about discipline of a father. This is because I shared about a couple of things at my dad's big birthday, one of which was about a father's discipline. There are actually a number of different passages in Proverbs. The main passage in Proverbs that I looked at was 13:24. However, it was mainly, as the title reveals, from Hebrews 12. It was actually a bit cool how this morning Pastor Kai preached a sermon on Hebrews 12:1-3. It was about shame and it was interesting that he commented about how he has never heard a sermon on shame. Regardless, the passage moves on to talk about struggle with sin and moving that idea along from Christ and what he suffered. This struggle with sin that we face is then related to God's discipline. Discipline is explained and it is also related to the discipline a child receives from his father. Though if I could step back for a second, I think verse 4 is very interesting. I struggle with sin as we all do and as I read this verse, I think back to the many times where I've failed and sinned. I don't think there was one instance where I resisted against sin to the point of shedding my blood. It is such a good reminder of our savior who we are to look to. He died on the cross and he never sinned. He certainly was tempted and as the one whom we follow we look to his example. He resisted sin even as he was up on the cross. Then I look to myself and I think, "What a joke". I fall so easily, it's really sad. Look to him and realize what he went through. He resisted sin to the point of death, and seeing that it encourages me to resist sin, making my silly shortcomings such a little matter in light of what he went through.

I remember looking at this passage before and thinking it so simple to just look to Jesus. However, I didn't really know what it meant, even though I thought I did. I was probably too stupid to actually read the whole passage and look at the context. I even had verses 1-3 memorized not even bothering to look into what it actually meant. I probably still don't know what it means. However, it also shows how God's word is living and active. It is alive and it's not necessarily the same each time you read it.

I guess I changed my mind midway through this. Perhaps next time I'll actually look into what I originally intended to look into.