God doesn’t punish us for our sins. How can He punish us for sins that have already been paid for? Often time we confuse chastisement with punishment. Chastisement is correction with love whereas punishment is vengeance and penalty. Point is, Jesus paid the penalty for our past, present, and future sins. Romans 8:1 says “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Watch this, because we are forever 4given doesn’t give us a license to sin. It’s is important to note that when we do sin our natural and spiritual lives are adversely impacted. We must confess (stand in agreement) our sins and God is perennially faithfully to cleanse us and to 4give us of all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9) It behooves us to remember that when we choose not to confess our shortcomings we hinder our fellowship and communion with God.

In his article “Knowing God” J.I. Packer said, “We need to remember that sin is a constant in our lives while we are yet on this earth (Romans 3:10, 23). Therefore, we not only have to deal with God’s discipline for our disobedience, but we also have to deal with the natural consequences resulting from sin. If a believer steals something, God will [at confession] forgive him and cleanse him from the sin of theft, restoring fellowship between Himself and the repentant thief. However, the societal consequences of theft can be severe, resulting in fines or even incarceration. These are natural consequences of sin and must be endured. But God works even through those consequences to increase our faith and glorify Himself.

The more we learn about God, the more we should understand His desires for our lives. Chastisement offers us the opportunity to grow and conform ourselves to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2). If you are like me, you know this transformation process isn’t easy and at times can be excruciatingly painful however, the end result far exceeds the pain it takes to become fully transformed into Christ’s image!