We recently had a revival at ENC and the guest speaker gave amazing insight that I would love to share. He spoke to us from Revelation chapters two and three where Jesus addresses the seven churches. For each church He introduces Himself with a scripture based phrase of a name that speaks to who He is, but also to who they are. He does this because He wants us to be like Him, to do the things He does. He then speaks to that specific church in their context of living, and concludes with a result He wants to see.
In verse 3:19 He states "those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline" (NIV). This is often brought up as evidence that God is not loving - how could a loving God allow the evil, the disastrous to happen? But we have to understand that He allows the consequences of our sin because He loves and He hopes it will wake us up. Picture Jesus standing between you and hell and saying, "If you really want in there, if you really want to believe the devil's perspective over mine, you're going to have to go through me! And I'm going to fight. And you're going to get bruised and beaten. And you're not going to enjoy getting in there!"
The word for love in this verse describes a friend type of love, a chosen love, a love different from the sacrificial "agape" love. This chosen, friendship love implies two people participating in a relationship. In fact, Exodus 33:11 is proof that God longs for a friendship with all of us! Also, in this verse "rebuke" can be translated to "expose" - so He exposes and teaches those He has chosen to love as friends! Instead of harsh rebuke He offers eye-opening conversation that promises to teach and edify us. So, they question remains, is Jesus your friend? Would friendship that opens your eyes and teaches describe your relationship with Him?
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