Elect Lady's Corner

Scared Straight... With Lovingkindness

In 1978, there was an award-winning documentary entitled Scared Straight. The documentary showcased a prison intervention program where hardened adult inmates confronted at-risk juveniles by yelling at them, threatening them, and graphically describing the horrors of what prison life looked like. The objective was to simply shock them into seeing where their destructive choices would ultimately lead to. Critics later argued the program was largely ineffective because studies suggested only about 7% to 28% of the juveniles changed their behavior.

Yet I could not help but ask myself a thought-provoking question: If even 28% of lives were redirected from destruction, isn't that still worth fighting for? Ironically, society continues to rely heavily on incarceration despite statistics showing that approximately 68% to 83% of released inmates become repeat offenders. In other words, only about 17% to 32% appear to be positively changed through imprisonment. Yet we continue sending people to prison because we believe consequences matter.

If we accept that principle naturally, why are we often offended when God uses consequences spiritually? That question drove me to one of my most beloved and cherished verses in Jeremiah 31:3 which said "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Those words arrested my heart. If God's love toward us is everlasting, unchanging, unfailing, and an unconditional faithful covenant towards us, that is expressed in His method of drawing us with His lovingkindness, how should we respond to such a great love? 

But, as I began studying the surrounding chapters, I discovered something remarkable. Jeremiah was not merely delivering comforting promises. The previous chapters were filled with warnings, tears, judgment, captivity, and the painful consequences of Israel's rebellion. God was in essence, trying to "scare Israel straight." He wanted His people to understand that Babylon was not simply a political tragedy, but it was the bitter harvest of persistent disobedience. Yet even while pronouncing judgment, God never stopped loving His people.

That is the heartbeat of our Heavenly Father. God does not discipline us because He has stopped loving us but He disciplines because He refuses to stop loving us. Today's culture often portrays love as unconditional acceptance without accountability. Modern thinking says, "If you love me, you'll let me do whatever I want." But God says exactly the opposite: “If I truly love you, I cannot leave you on a path that destroys your soul.” Just as loving parents refuse to allow their children to play in traffic, abuse drugs, or live recklessly without correction, our Heavenly Father lovingly intervenes when we wander from His will.

Paul reminds us: "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons..." (Hebrews 12:6-7). Discipline is evidence of relationship. There are seasons when God's discipline seems delayed. Ecclesiastes 8:11 explains why many become comfortable living in sin: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." God's patience is extraordinary. He gives space for repentance.

He sends preachers, scripture, convictions, circumstances, Godly counsel, and countless opportunities to turn around. His delay should never be mistaken for His approval. Divine patience is an invitation to repentance; not permission to continue in sin. Other times, God's discipline is wrapped in compassion. David compassionately describes the heart of our Father God: "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." (Psalm 103:13-14). 

God knows our weaknesses. He remembers our humanity. He often restores us with remarkable tenderness. But Scripture also reveals another side of God's loving discipline. There are moments when compassionate warnings are no longer enough. The book of Jude states: "and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Sometimes people are so close to spiritual destruction that love must become urgent. Love has to raise its voice. Love sounds the alarm. Love confronts compromise.

Love refuses to quietly watch someone perish. And sometimes the most loving thing anyone can do is tell us the truth that makes us uncomfortable. God is not interested in making us merely comfortable. He is committed to making us holy. That explains why some storms come into our lives. Sometimes, we have to endure closed doors; some broken plans; some sleepless nights; some painful disappointments, some divine interruptions; but they are not always attacks from the enemy. Many times, they are God's loving pursuit of His wandering children.

He loves us too much to let us comfortably drift toward destruction. The greatest evidence of God's love was not simply that He warned us but that He came Himself. Jesus Christ stepped into our prison of sin, bore our judgment upon the Cross, paid our debt with His own blood, and rose again so we could experience forgiveness instead of eternal condemnation. Calvary forever proves that God's justice and God's mercy embrace each other.

The Cross is where holy discipline and everlasting love met perfectly. Perhaps today God has been trying to get your attention. Maybe through conviction. Maybe through disappointment. Maybe through unanswered prayers. Maybe through consequences you never expected; but don't mistake His correction for rejection. His discipline is an invitation back to His embrace. The God who allowed Israel to experience Babylon is the same God Who promised to bring them home again. He wounds, but He also heals. He corrects, but He also restores. He convicts, but He also comforts. He disciplines, but He never ceases to love.

What a mighty, holy, compassionate, and loving God we serve! So, let me leave you with a challenge. Before asking God to remove every uncomfortable circumstance, ask yourself these 5 questions: 1) Is God trying to lovingly get my attention? 2) Have I mistaken His patience for permission? 3) Am I resisting a correction that could save my life? 4) Is His discipline actually evidence that I still belong to Him? 5) Am I Willing to humble myself today before harsher consequences become necessary?

Remember, God's goal has never been to scare us for fear's sake, but His goal is to save us from destruction; restore us to Himself and transform us into the image of His Son. Sometimes He draws us with gentle cords of lovingkindness. Sometimes He rescues us by pulling us from the fire. But in every season, His everlasting lovingkindness remains unchanged. The God who corrects you is the same God who refuses to give up on you. (Hell is too hot and eternity is too long to miss Heaven!) His chastening may sting for a moment, but His lovingkindness will bless you for Eternity. Thank God we serve a God that loves us too much to let us stay wrong.