But God’s discipline is good for us April 22, 2024

Hebrews 12:10-13 Our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us … there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

I’m writing to you from the beautiful mountains of Colorado, where the new life of spring looks a bit different from Pennsylvania.

My takeaway today from thinking about this passage from Hebrews? God’s discipline is not just for my personal growth, but even more, for those around me. My right living can open a pathway of peace and strengthening for others. And so can yours.

It’s not just about “me”—it’s about us. We’re all influencing each other.

Sometimes I’m the weak and lame one who needs extra support.

And sometimes, because God gives me the extra infusion of perspective I need in order to keep hanging on when things are tough, other people can say, as many told me after Karis died, “If she could find grace to not give up, with all she had to deal with, I can too, with what I face.”

Sometimes, when I “strengthen my weak knees” through prayer and worship, the Holy Spirit can transform my pity party, as Karis called any kind of griping, into the ability to shift my focus away from myself to listen, understand, and pray for others.

This idea of “new grip” reminds me of a Notre Dame football story. Karis innocently sat at the football players’ table in the dining hall while they were all getting their food. The team “adopted” her, and she helped tutor some of them so they could stay academically qualified. One Saturday morning she was still in her PJs when she heard a knock on her dorm room door. One of the football players filled the doorway.

“Karis, hurry and get dressed. We’re playing touch football and I want you on my team. I promise, I won’t let you get hurt. I’ll wait for you in the common room.”

This is a funny story for so many reasons. Little Karis, who didn’t even understand the rules (that’s another story!) playing in any meaningful way against massive opponents? Without getting hurt?

What the football player did during play was hand Karis the ball, tell her “Hold it tight,” pick her up, and race for the touchdown.

I think you can tell where I’m going with this. Karis had only one task: hang on to the ball. The rest was all about trust.

We’re all team players, in some way influencing the outcome of the game we’re playing. The “ball” God is asking me to hold on to has everything to do with trust in his game plan and in the other players. I don’t even fully understand the rules, and the opponents I face are way too big for me. My part? Strengthen my grip and trust him to carry me.

Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace), Hillsong