Unwanted (and unheard) messages

I have an email account that I use when filling out online forms. Giving an email address is the only reason I have that account. If I decide that the sender will be sending things I have more interest in, I'll modify the online preferences with my "real" email. I do this to filter out unwanted messages, or spam.

Since I cleaned out my spam account yesterday, I received 70 more messages, none of them wanted, and I might add, none of them read. I peruse spam for one word: "unsubscribe". If they are not sending messages I want to read, then I try to get rid of them as fast as possible. In this case there are products that would be inappropriate for me to comment on. Suffice it to say, I am not interested and I am actively trying to keep from getting those messages.

Sadly, our world today has trained us to filter out unwanted messages. Even when those messages are something we need to hear. Often, the Bible gives us messages that are tough to swallow. We really don't want to hear what God has to say. We don't like the idea that we are displeasing to God. That our sin fixes a great gulf between us and God.

American culture is teaching us that a loving God would not include discipline. But discipline is actually one of the highest expressions of love. If God didn't love, He wouldn't discipline us. But because He loves us, He disciplines us. You don't believe me? Take it from God Himself in Hebrews 12:5b - 7: "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

Just because we don't like it doesn't mean it is bad. Discipline is painful. Just a few verses later in Hebrews 12:11 we read: 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.

So, as we go about life and tough times come (because they will come), let's look for how God is changing us through the hard times. It is His love for us that is at work. Let's not filter out God's work because it is unwanted. And let's not relegate it to being unread or unheard. Discipline from God may not be desired, but it is for our betterment.

Don't filter it out....