Welcome back to our continuing conversation on
Refined for a Purpose. In our last conversation,
we talked about the crack before the collapse.
We discovered the collapse rarely begins on the
day everybody sees it. Usually, something has
been cracking quietly for a long time. A boundary
moves. A compromise is justified. An attitude
is excused. A warning is ignored. A conviction
is silenced, and slowly, something that once
seemed small can begin threatening something
much larger. But we also discovered something
hopeful. God revealing the crack does not mean
the structure is worthless. Sometimes revelation
is the beginning of restoration. Sometimes conviction
is protection. Sometimes God allows us to see
what is weakening. while there is still time
to repair it. And that brought us to another
question. What happens when God doesn't simply
show us the crack, but begins dealing with it?
What happens when God confronts an attitude,
when He interrupts a pattern, when He challenges
our pride, when He allows consequences, when
He uses His word, circumstances or people to
tell us something has to change? Because if we
are not careful, we can interpret correction
as rejection. We can begin asking, God, are you
angry with me? Have you abandoned me? Did I lose
my purpose? Is everything over? But Hebrews 12
gives us another perspective. It tells us the
Lord disciplines the one he loves. Think about
that. Scripture connects discipline with love.
And perhaps this is one of the most difficult
dimensions of being refined for a purpose. Sometimes
God's love comforts us. Sometimes God's love
carries us. Sometimes God's love restores us.
And sometimes God's love corrects us. So today,
I want us to have a conversation about something
we don't always like talking about when God corrects
the person he loves. Because correction is not
always rejection. Sometimes, correction is rescue.
And before we go any further, we need to establish
something important. Not every painful season
is God correcting you. Jesus rejected the simplistic
idea that every tragedy or suffering must be
traced directly to someone's personal sin. In
John 9, the disciples saw a man who had been
blind from birth and asked Jesus, who sinned,
this man or his parents? Jesus refused their
assumption, and that matters, because sometimes
we can become spiritually unhealthy by interpreting
every hardship as, God must be punishing me.
You lost your job. God is punishing me. A relationship
ended. God is punishing me. You became sick.
God is punishing me. A door closed. God is punishing
me. No. Life is more complicated than that. We
live in a broken world. People make choices.
We make choices. There are natural consequences.
There are spiritual battles. There are circumstances
we simply do not understand. And sometimes, suffering
has nothing to do with personal correction. So
this conversation is not an invitation to become
afraid of God every time something goes wrong.
It is an invitation to become teachable when
God is actually correcting us. There is a difference,
and that difference requires discernment. Instead
of immediately asking, God, why are you punishing
me? Maybe the healthier prayer is God. What are
you saying to me through this season? If there
is something to correct, show me. If there is
something to learn, teach me. If there is something
to release, help me release it. And if this season
has nothing to do with correction, give me the
faith to walk through it without falsely condemning
myself. Because God does not call us to live
under constant fear. He calls us to walk with
Him. And now we need to understand why love sometimes
corrects. Hebrews 12 says, Those are two completely
different reactions. One person receives correction
and says, it doesn't matter. Another receives
correction and says, everything is over. Scripture
says neither response is healthy. Don't dismiss
correction, but don't allow correction to convince
you that you have been abandoned. That balance
is powerful, because when God corrects you, The
goal is not destruction. The goal is formation.
Hebrews continues by saying that discipline later
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it. Trained
by it. That means correction is supposed to produce
something. Wisdom, humility, discipline, maturity,
self -control, righteousness, peace. God is not
simply saying You were wrong. He is saying, I
am teaching you another way to live. Correction
that only produces shame has missed the purpose.
Godly correction should move us toward transformation.
Sometimes God loves you too much to let you keep
going. Imagine seeing someone you love walking
toward danger. Would love remain silent? If your
child was walking toward traffic, would you say,
I don't want to interfere with their choices.
No. Love would interrupt. Love might shout. Love
might grab them. The interruption could feel
uncomfortable, but the discomfort would not mean
hatred. The interruption would be evidence of
love. And sometimes we want God to love us without
interrupting us. We want God to bless our plans,
bless our relationships, bless our decisions.
Bless our ambitions, bless our habits, bless
our direction. But sometimes God's answer is,
no, I love you too much to bless what is destroying
you. And that can hurt, because we may have already
become emotionally attached to what God is confronting.
Maybe it is a relationship, maybe an attitude,
maybe pride, maybe an ambition, maybe a habit.
Maybe the way we speak, maybe the way we handle
authority, maybe something we have convinced
ourselves we need, and then God puts his finger
on it and says, this cannot continue. That moment
can feel like loss, but perhaps what feels like
God taking something from you is actually God
protecting something greater within you. David
teaches us, that mercy does not always remove
consequences. David gives us one of scripture's
most difficult examples. David sinned with Bathsheba.
He abused his authority. He arranged circumstances
that resulted in Uriah's death. Then Nathan confronted
him and David said, I have sinned against the
Lord. Nathan told him that the Lord had taken
away his sin. There was forgiveness. but there
were still consequences. And this is where we
sometimes misunderstand grace. We think forgiveness
means consequences should disappear. But forgiveness
and consequences are not always the same thing.
You can be forgiven and still have something
to repair. You can be forgiven and still need
to rebuild trust. You can be forgiven and still
need to apologize. You can be forgiven and still
have to accept responsibility. You can be forgiven
and still have to live through the consequences
of decisions you made. And consequences do not
necessarily mean God has rejected you. Sometimes
consequences become part of the classroom. David
was forgiven, but David was also changed. Psalm
51 reveals a man who no longer merely wants the
situation fixed. He wants himself changed. He
prays, create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me. That is maturity.
Immaturity says, God, remove the consequence.
Maturity eventually learns to pray, God, change
whatever in me help create this. That is refinement.
And sometimes God corrects our success, not just
our failure. We often think correction only comes
after obvious sin, but God also corrects attitudes
that could become dangerous later. Look at Paul.
2 Corinthians 12 tells us Paul received extraordinary
revelations, and then Paul describes what he
calls a thorn in the flesh. Christians have debated
for centuries exactly what that thorn was. And
scripture does not give us enough information
to settle every detail. But Paul tells us something
important about its purpose. He says it was connected
to keeping him from becoming conceited because
of the greatness of the revelations. Think about
that. The danger was not simply failure. The
danger was what success could produce inside
him. Pride. And Paul prayed repeatedly for the
thorn to leave. But God's answer was, my grace
is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness. Sometimes we are asking God to remove
something while God is using that very season
to keep something else from growing inside us.
Again, we need humility here. We should not label
every difficulty a thorn or assume every unresolved
problem is God's discipline. But Paul's testimony
teaches us something important. God is concerned
not only with where you are going, but with who
you are becoming while you get there. Sometimes
success needs refinement too, because pride can
destroy what suffering never could. Peter shows
us the difference between condemnation and correction.
Peter denied Jesus three times. Imagine the shame.
Peter had said, even if everyone else falls away,
I won't. Then pressure came, fear came, and Peter
denied even knowing Jesus. Afterward, he wept
bitterly. Now notice what Jesus does after the
resurrection. Jesus does not pretend the failure
never happened. But he also does not discard
Peter. In John 21, Jesus confronts and restores
him. Three times Jesus asks, do you love me?
And then, feed my sheep. The place of failure
becomes a place of restoration. Jesus does not
say, Peter, because you failed, your purpose
is canceled. But neither does he say, Peter,
let's pretend nothing happened. There is confrontation.
There is restoration and then there is responsibility.
That is important because condemnation says you
failed, therefore you are finished. Correction
says this must change because there is still
purpose ahead of you. Condemnation pushes you
away from God. Conviction draws you toward repentance.
Condemnation tells you to hide. Conviction tells
you to come into the light. Condemnation attacks
your identity. Correction addresses your behavior
and your character. And Romans 8 .1 reminds us,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. That does not mean
there is no correction. It means correction happens
within a relationship of grace. Be careful not
to reject the person God uses to correct you.
This is difficult because sometimes we want correction
directly from heaven. We want an angel, a dream,
a voice, a scripture appearing miraculously before
us. But sometimes God sends Nathan, a human being,
someone who says, you are the man. And suddenly
the problem is not whether God is speaking. The
problem is that we don't like who he used. Maybe
your spouse sees something. Maybe a friend sees
something. Maybe a mentor sees something. Maybe
a leader confronts something. Maybe someone beneath
you sees something your position has prevented
others from telling you. Now, human correction
is not automatically correct. People can misunderstand
us. People can have wrong motives. People can
accuse falsely. People can manipulate. So everything
must be tested with wisdom, truth, scripture,
and prayer. But humility asks, even if I don't
like how this was said, is there something here
I need to hear? That question can save you because
pride asks, who are you to correct me? Humility
asks, God, is there truth here for me? Never
become so successful that nobody can tell you
the truth. Never become so spiritual that you
believe you cannot be corrected Never become
so powerful that everyone around you becomes
afraid to disagree with you Because when accountability
disappears the crack can grow without resistance
Sometimes the thing you call an attack may actually
be an interruption. Now we need discernment here.
Not every attack is correction. Not every opposition
is from God. Scripture gives us real spiritual
warfare. It gives us persecution. It gives us
false accusation. It gives us injustice. So we
should never casually tell someone, God did this
to you because you needed correction. We may
not know that, but in our own prayer life, there
is a question worth asking. God, is there anything
you are trying to teach me here? Because sometimes
we become so focused on escaping discomfort that
we never investigate whether the discomfort is
revealing something. We rebuke everything. We
fight everything. We call everything warfare.
But what if some moments require reflection before
resistance? What if God is using a closed door
to expose entitlement? What if conflict is revealing
your anger? What if waiting is revealing impatience?
What if criticism is exposing insecurity? What
if responsibility is exposing poor discipline?
What if success is revealing pride? What if disappointment
is revealing where your identity has actually
been resting? Again, the circumstance itself
may not have been sent by God, but God can still
use it. God doesn't have to author the fire to
use the fire, and that is consistent with everything
we have been learning in this season. God doesn't
waste the fire. There is a difference between
being punished and being trained. Hebrews uses
the language of training. That matters. Think
about physical training. Training places resistance
against the body. Not because the trainer hates
the athlete. Because resistance develops strength.
The athlete may say, this hurts. And the trainer
may answer, I know. But the pain has a purpose.
Now every pain in life is not divine training.
But when God is refining us, There are moments
when obedience becomes uncomfortable. Apologizing
hurts pride, forgiving hurts, accepting accountability
hurts, changing habits hurts, breaking unhealthy
relationships hurts, admitting you were wrong
hurts, starting again hurts, waiting hurts, surrendering
control hurts. But sometimes the pain is not
evidence that the process is wrong. Sometimes.
The pain is part of the training. Hebrew says
discipline is painful rather than pleasant at
the moment. Scripture acknowledges that. God
does not pretend correction feels good, but then
it says later. I love that word. Later. Later
it produces something. Later you understand.
Later you see why the boundary was necessary.
Later you appreciate the person who told you
the truth. Later you understand why God would
not let you continue. Later you recognize what
could have happened. Later you see the protection
inside the correction. Some things only make
sense. Later. The purpose of correction is not
to keep you in the past. There is another danger.
Sometimes after God corrects us, we remain mentally
trapped in what we did. We repent. God forgives.
We change. But we keep punishing ourselves. Every
prayer becomes about the failure. Every new opportunity
reminds us of the failure. Every good thing makes
us feel unworthy because of the failure. But
if repentance has happened, correction is supposed
to move you forward. You learn. You grow. You
make restitution where possible. You rebuild
what needs rebuilding. You accept consequences
where necessary and then you walk differently.
God does not refine gold so he can spend eternity
talking about the impurities he removed. The
impurities are removed so the gold can become
what the refiner intended. Don't build your identity
around the thing God corrected. Let the correction
produce wisdom. Let it produce humility. Let
it produce compassion. Let it produce boundaries.
Let it produce maturity. Let it produce testimony.
You are not supposed to remain forever at the
place where God confronted you. You are supposed
to become different because He did. And this
is where grace becomes beautiful. Grace is not
God saying nothing matters. Grace is not permission
to remain unchanged. Grace does not eliminate
truth. Grace does not eliminate responsibility.
Grace does not call darkness light. Grace meets
us in truth and gives us the power to become
different. Titus 2 says the grace of God teaches
us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions
and to live self -controlled upright godly lives.
Grace teaches. Grace trains. Grace transforms.
So when God corrects you, don't run away from
grace. Run toward it. Say, God, show me. God,
teach me. God, change me. God, forgive me. God,
help me repair what I damaged. God, give me discipline
so I don't return to what you delivered me from.
That is not weakness. That is maturity. So maybe
the question is not, Why is God correcting me?
Maybe there is a better question. What is God
trying to preserve? Maybe He is preserving your
marriage. Maybe your family. Maybe your ministry.
Maybe your calling. Maybe your character. Maybe
your testimony. Maybe your future. Maybe the
people who depend on you. Maybe the responsibility
you have been praying for. Because sometimes
correction is not only about what you did yesterday.
Sometimes correction is about what God knows
you will need tomorrow. Joseph needed integrity
before Pharaoh. Moses needed character for leadership.
Peter needed humility before Pentecost. Paul
needed dependence on grace while carrying extraordinary
revelation. God sees farther than we do. And
sometimes he deals with something now because
he knows what that something could become later.
That is why correction can be protection. That
is why discipline can be preparation. And that
is why correction is not rejection. But now there
is another question. What happens when correction
comes after you have already failed? What happens
when you saw the crack? but didn't respond. What
happens when the boundary was crossed? What happens
when the mistake was made? What happens when
you cannot undo what you did? What happens when
your own decisions contributed to the fire you
are now walking through? Can God still use you?
Can purpose survive failure? Can mercy reach
you when you cannot blame anybody else? Can God
restore someone who genuinely got it wrong? Because
there is a kind of theology that knows how to
talk about holiness before failure, but does
not know what to say to the person sitting in
the ashes afterward. And yet scripture is filled
with people whose weaknesses became visible.
David, Peter, Moses, Jacob, and still, God's
story with them was not over. So our next continuing
conversation will be when failure doesn't cancel
purpose mercy in the refining fire. We are not
going to use grace as permission to sin. We are
not going to pretend choices have no consequences.
We are not going to minimize damage. But we are
going to ask a deeply biblical question. What
does God do with a repentant person who failed?
Because perhaps somebody listening to me does
not need another warning about the crack. The
collapse has already happened. And your question
is no longer, how do I prevent it? Your question
is, can God still do anything with me now? And
if that is you, stay with us because the refiner
is not finished. Before we close today, I want
you to remember this. If God is correcting you,
listen. If he is confronting something, don't
immediately defend it. If repentance is necessary,
repent. If an apology is necessary, apologize.
If something must change, change it. If a boundary
must return, restore it. If accountability is
needed, receive it. But don't confuse correction
with abandonment. Don't allow conviction to become
condemnation. and don't allow shame to make you
run from the very God who is calling you back.
Maybe God is correcting you because there is
still something worth protecting. Maybe he is
disciplining you because there is still something
he intends to develop. Maybe he is interrupting
you because he sees where the road leads. Maybe
the correction that hurts today is protecting
you from something that would hurt much more
tomorrow. You ask God to refine you. Sometimes
this is what refinement looks like. The refiner
sees what we cannot see. The refiner removes
what cannot remain. The refiner knows how much
heat is necessary. And the refiner does not throw
away the goal because he discovers impurities.
He keeps working. So receive his comfort, receive
his conviction, receive his correction, receive
his grace, and keep walking. Because correction
is not always rejection, sometimes correction
is rescue. And even here, you are still being
refined for a purpose.