Receives (3858) (paradechomai from para = from, beside, near + dechomai = accept deliberately and readily, receive kindly and so to take to oneself what is presented or brought by another) means literally to receive or accept near or beside and then to accept deliberately, willingly, favorably and readily. Paradechomai in some contexts conveys the sense of to delight in. To receive or embrace with favor. In other words this verb speaks of far more than an indifferent or apathetic reception, especially here in Hebrews 12:6. To accept or acknowledge as correct (Acts 16:21). To receive, welcome or accept a person in a friendly or hospitable manner (Acts 15:4). To come to believe something to be true and to respond accordingly. To receive or accept with delight. To admit with approval. As you can discern from the definitions, the meaning of verb paradechomai is not significantly different from dechomai except that the prefix preposition may intensify the meaning. BDAG has these secular uses of paradechomai... Receive erroneous teachings... Take back a wife who was dismissed for adultery Hm 4, 1, 8a; pass. 4, 1, 7; 8b. Of a citizen who wishes to return to his home city after living in a strange land, pass. s 1:5. Liddell-Scott speaking of secular uses... -of children, to receive as inheritance... to take up and continue the battle, Id. to take upon oneself, engage to do a thing, Moulton-Milligan speaking of secular uses... meaning “approve,” “commend,” in Aristeas The verb is common = “make allowance for,” especially in leases - "I have given you every allowance"... "if any of the land becomes unwatered, a proportionate allowance from the rent shall be made to me"..."if in any of the years there should be a failure of water, an allowance shall be made to the lessee"..."I will make allowance for the expense" Vine writes that in the present context paradechomai... here has the meaning of accepting by way of recognizing, and refers to God’s recognition of a person as His son. The chastening is an indication of love; the scourging is an act with the object of our highest good. Paradechomai - 6x in 6v - Mark 4:20; Acts 15:4; 16:21; 22:18; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 12:6 Mark 4:20 "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." Comment: Here paradechomai conveys the sense of to embrace with assent and obedience (the obedience of course is evidence that the Word was truly accepted into one's heart and not just into their head with an accompanying lip acknowledgment without a life alteration!) Acts 15:4 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. Comment: A T Robertson says paradechomai is an "old verb, to receive, to welcome. Here it was a public reception for Paul and Barnabas provided by the whole church including the apostles and elders, at which an opportunity was given to hear the story of Paul and Barnabas about God’s dealings with them among the Gentiles." Acts 16:21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans. Acts 22:18 and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' 1 Timothy 5:19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Comment: Here paradechomai means “to entertain,” or “to consider in your mind” regarding unsubstantiated allegations against elders. They are not to be welcomed or favorably received but in fact ignored by turning a deaf ear, in so doing protecting the reputation of the elder from false accusations. The verb paradechomai means, in the broad sense, to “accept” and can be used in the sense of “admit/allow” (Plato, Thaetetus 155C; Laws 935D). The negative imperative in this verse may bear the nuance of “stop receiving,” with the implication that Timothy had been allowing some. (Johnson, L. T.. The First and Second Letters to Timothy: New Haven; London: Yale University Press) The Septuagint (LXX) uses paradechomai with a similar meaning as discerned from comparing the Hebrew and Septuagint translations into English... Hebrew into English = Exodus 23:1 "You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. Septuagint (LXX) (Greek) into English = Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not receive (paradechomai) a vain report: thou shalt not agree with the unjust man to become an unjust witness. Hebrews 12:6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." Proverbs 3:12 is the only other use of the verb paradechomai in the Septuagint (LXX), and in fact is OT source quoted by the writer of Hebrews in Heb 12:6... For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father, the son in whom he delights. (Lxx = paradechomai) Note that the Hebrew word for delights is ratsah which means to be pleased with, to sets One's affection on, to delight, to enjoy. The root of ratsah frequently describes God's pleasure with His servants and particularly is referred to His Son, the Messiah. ><> ><> ><> Welcome Cross “Tis my happiness below Not to live without the cross, But the Saviour’s power to know, Sanctifying every loss: Trials must and will befall; But with humble faith to see Love inscribed upon them all, This is happiness to me. God in Israel sows the seeds Of affliction, pain, and toil; These spring up and choke the weeds Which would else o’er spread the soil: Trials make the promise sweet, Trials give new life to prayer; Trials bring me to His feet, Lay me low, and keep me there. Did I meet no trials here, No chastisement by the way, Might I not with reason fear I should prove a castaway' Bastards may escape the rod, Sunk in earthly vain delight; But the true-born child of God Must not—would not, if he might. Olney Hymns, William Cowper Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, NY ><> ><> ><> Our Daily Bread - Always For Us - Naomi, her husband, and their two sons left Israel and moved to Moab because of a famine (Ru 1:1, 2-note). One son married Ruth, the other married Orpah. Eventually Naomi's husband and sons died (Ru 1:3, 5-note), so she decided to return to Israel. But she felt that her daughters-in-law would be better off staying in Moab (Ru 1:6, 7, 8-note, Ru 1:9, 10, 11, 12, 13-note). She tried to dissuade them from going with her by saying, "No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!" (Ru 1:13-note). Was Naomi right in her thinking about God? Perhaps the family had displayed a lack of faith by moving to pagan Moab, but God certainly was not against her. He proved this by wonderfully providing for her and Ruth after they returned to Israel. (Read the rest of the book—it's short.) You may be unemployed, terminally ill, have a disabled child, or care for a loved one with Alzheimer's. God hasn't promised to keep us from such problems. But He has proven that He is always "for us" as Christians by what He did through Jesus (Ro 5:8, 9-note). Nothing, not even death, can separate us from His love (Ro 8:35, 36-note, 37, 38, 39-note). The Lord is never "against us," not even when He chastens us (Heb 12:5, 6). He is always for us! —Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) Our God is always there for us— Receiving every prayer, Delighting in our words of praise, Responding with His care. —Sper The One who died to save you will never be against you. ><> ><> ><> Our Daily Bread - Winds Of Love - A farmer had a weather vane on his barn, on which was written "God is love." When friends asked why, the farmer said, "This is to remind me that no matter which way the wind blows, God is love." When the warm "south wind" with its soothing and balmy breezes brings showers of blessing, God is love. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17-note;). When the cold "north wind" of trial and testing sweeps down upon you, God is love. "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28-note). When the "west wind" blows hard upon you with its punishing intent, God is love. "Whom the Lord loves He chastens" (Hebrews 12:6). When the "east wind" threatens to sweep away all that you have, God is love. "God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory" (Php 4:19-note). Perhaps you are discouraged and downhearted. If so, remember, God still cares for you. What you are experiencing has either been sent or it has been allowed by Him for your good. Yes, no matter which way the wind is blowing, God is love. —Richard De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) God is love: His mercy brightens All the path in which we rove; Bliss He wakes and woe He lightens— God is wisdom, God is love. —Bowring No affliction would trouble us if we knew God’s reason for permitting it ><> ><> ><> The Making Of Us - When my husband was a child, his mother sometimes scolded and disciplined him for disobeying her. During one such scolding he said to her imploringly, "You must be nice to your little boy!" His words touched her tender heart. But because she loved him, she continued his discipline and training. Years later as a missionary, Bill was grateful for her tough love, for it was the making of him. God also disciplines and trains His erring sons and daughters. He may do so directly (1Co 11:29, 30, 31, 32), or He may allow life's hardships to melt us, mold us, and make us more like Jesus. In Hebrews 12:6, we're assured that "whom the Lord loves He chastens." Yet God's chastening doesn't feel very loving. Sometimes we even think it's ruining us. But God's discipline is the very thing that will save us from the ruin of our selfish, stubborn ways. Although we're unlikely to enjoy God's discipline, we're told that it trains us for right and holy living (He 12:7, 8, 9, 10, 11). Rather than resisting God's correction, we can yield to Him, confident that His goal is our spiritual growth. Whatever our circumstances, God knows the seriousness of our difficulties and is working powerfully behind the scenes for our good. His tough love is the making of us.—Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) God's loving hand of discipline May give us little rest; His only purpose is our good — He wants for us what's best. —D. De Haan God's discipline is designed to make us like His Son. ><> ><> ><> As the story goes, a little piece of wood once bitterly complained because its owner kept whittling away at it, gouging it and making holes in it. But the one who was cutting it paid no attention to the stick's protests. He was making a flute out of that piece of ebony, and he was too wise to stop when the wood complained so bitterly. The man said, "Little piece of wood, without these rifts and holes, and all this cutting, you'd be just a stick forever--a useless piece of ebony. What I am doing now may seem as if I am destroying you, but instead it will change you into a flute. Your sweet music will charm the souls of many and comfort sorrowing hearts. My cutting you is the making of you, for only thus can you be a blessing in the world." The meaning of this little parable is clear: That flute, whose music blended so sweetly in the orchestra, was made a flute only by the knife and file that filled it with rifts and holes which seemed to be its very destruction. But the purpose of the master was that it might become a melodious instrument to the praise of God. The Lord is shaping us. Let's be patient and allow His chastening to do its work in our lives. — M. R. De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) More purity give me, more strength to o'ercome, More freedom from earth-stains, more longings for home; More fit for the kingdom, more used would I be, More blessed and holy, more, Savior, like Thee. --Bliss Present pains can lead to permanent gains. ><> ><> ><> Our Father's Anguish - Think about the anguish that the parents of a rebellious son must have felt in Old Testament times! The law required them to bring such a son before the authorities for execution by stoning (Dt. 21:18, 19, 20, 21). This was likely carried out only in extreme circumstances, but imagine the emotional struggle they must have endured in fulfilling God's holy law! According to the prophet Hosea, that's the type of anguish God experiences over His rebellious people. He's like a loving parent who coaxes his child to take his first steps, then tenderly picks him up and kisses away the hurt when he falls (Hos 11:3). God had shown His love for Israel, but the nation had walked away from Him. They deserved to be abandoned by Him. But God still loved the people of Israel and did not want the entire nation to be destroyed. Even though He allowed the Assyrians to capture them, He led thousands of former citizens of the northern kingdom of Israel to join the southern kingdom of Judah and participate in the return from exile (1Chr. 9:1, 2, 3). God still loves us when we sin. When He must chasten us, He does it reluctantly and with great anguish. His love won't permit Him to leave us alone. — Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) Thinking It Over Read Hebrews 12:5-11. Why does God chasten us? What would it mean to us if we never experienced His discipline? God's chastening is compassionate--never cruel. ><> ><> ><> The Gain Of Loss - When she was a child, Nancy was taught that winning isn't everything; it's how you play the game that counts. But when she became an adult, she adopted another approach to life. As the wife of Dick Howser, manager of the Kansas City Royals baseball team, she agreed with her husband's philosophy that it doesn't matter what you do--as long as you win. Then they had a harrowing experience that brought about a reversal in their values. Dick was afflicted with brain cancer, forcing him to resign as manager. "After what has happened," said Nancy, "I realized that my priorities in the so-called real world were all wrong. Now Dick and I know that the old way was right." We may be so determined to win in the competitive game of life that we turn our backs on the principles laid down in Scripture. Sometimes God in love lets us undergo pain and loss to motivate us to readjust our values and priorities. He lovingly chastens His children so that they will produce the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11). And through our testimony, He brings non-Christians to see that only biblical principles can guide us safely through the deceptive maze of earthly ambitions. Let's learn from our losses. — Vernon C. Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) God often sends me joy through pain, Through bitter loss, divinest gain; Yet through it all--dark days or bright-- I know my Father leads aright. --Conklin Great gain often comes through great loss. Blue-ribbon Christians - While visiting New England, I was presented with a tin of pure Vermont maple syrup. It was given to me by a man who consistently had won blue ribbons for his product. Producing syrup of that quality is no easy task. Its richness, flavor, and color depend on many factors: the tree from which the sap is drawn, the time it is collected, the existing weather conditions, and the skill of the one who controls the boiling and filtering process. A blue-ribbon award is the result of a carefully controlled procedure from start to finish. This reminds me of the way the Lord refines the lives of His children. Even now, He is working on us. The fires of affliction and trial may be painful for a time, but afterward they will result in great blessing and reward (Hebrews 12:11). I remember well when my brother and I collected some sap from our maple trees in the back yard. We put it in a big tub on a burner in the basement, and then promptly forgot all about it. Many hours later Mother almost fainted when she opened the basement door and was greeted by billowing clouds of smoke. How thankful we can be that God never forgets us in that way. He knows just the right amount of heat necessary to make us blue-ribbon Christians! — Richard De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) All God's testings have a purpose— Someday you will see the light; All He asks is that you trust Him, Walk by faith and not by sight. —Zoller God sends trials not to impair us but to improve us. ><> ><> ><> Why Love Gets Tough - James McConkey was a well- known Bible teacher in the early 20th century. While traveling through Europe, he went on a hike with a group of tourists in the awe-inspiring Swiss Alps. Their experienced guide led them cautiously through dangerous gorges and across treacherous ice fields. At one point he was leading the hikers on a wide detour to ensure their safety. One weary tourist, though, decided he would take a short-cut. He left the pathway and started out on his own. The guide raced after him, tackled him, and dragged him back to the path. Then he explained that the snow over which that tourist intended to walk was a thin crust of ice covering a giant crevasse. That short-cut would have meant a long and deadly plunge deep into the glacier. Our Guide, the Lord Jesus, knows that if we are to avoid dangers in our pilgrimage, He must sometimes lead us on detours that seem unnecessary. If we decide to leave the pathway of obedience, He may be forced to use painful means to drag us back to spiritual safety (Heb. 12:3-11). Eventually, though, we will understand that our Guide's discipline was motivated by His protecting care. How thankful we can be for His tough love! — Vernon C. Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) The Lord foresees the danger when From Him we go astray, And stretches out His saving hand To keep us in His way. --DJD God's love may have to be tough to keep us out of the rough. ><> ><> ><> Real Wholeness - I was driving my car and listening to a talk-radio program when a young man called in. He was desperate because he had been expelled from college and had lost his job. The caller said he had grown up in a good home, attended church faithfully, and professed faith in Jesus Christ. But now he was hooked on pornography and immoral conduct. The pastor-counselor answered vaguely, telling the young man to "focus on your God-given potential" and "get in touch with your inner self" as a step toward personal "wholeness." I didn't know just what he meant. I'm sure the caller didn't either. If the writer of Hebrews could have responded to this young man, he would have told him that he had a sin problem and that God in love was chastening him to correct him (He 12:7-11). He would have urged him to repent, and then he would have told him to commit himself wholeheartedly to honoring the Lord (He 12:12), stick to the straight paths for his own good and the good of others (He 12:13), and strive for a life marked by peacefulness and purity (He 12:14). God's path to wholeness is more than looking within ourselves. It's facing our sin and looking to Christ for forgiveness. Real wholeness is not easy, but it is rewarding. — Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) When God begins His work in us, He leaves no stone unturned; He points out sins both large and small Until each one is spurned. --DJD God's discipline is designed to make us like His Son. ><>><>><> F B Meyer in The Way Into the Holiest ... CHASTISEMENT Hebrews 12:6 IT is hardly possible to suppose that any shall read these lines who have not drunk of the bitter cup of affliction. Some may have even endured a great fight of afflictions. Squadron after squadron has been drawn up in array, and broken its regiments on the devoted soul. It has come to us in different forms, but in one form or another it has come to us all. Perhaps our physical strength and health have been weakened in the way; or we have been racked with unutterable anguish in mind or body; or have been obliged to see our beloved slowly slipping from the grasp of our affection, which was condemned to stand paralyzed and helpless by. In some cases, affliction has come to us in the earning of our daily bread, which has been procured with difficulty and pain, whilst care has never been long absent from our hearts, or want from our homes. In others, homes which were as full of merry voices as the woods in spring of sweet-voiced choristers are empty and silent. Ah, how infinite are the shades of grief! how extended the gamut of pain! How many can cry with the Psalmist, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me! We can see clearly the reason of all this suffering. The course of nature is out of joint. Man's sin has put not himself only, but the whole course of nature into collision with the will and law of God; so that it groans and travails in its pains. Selfishness has also alienated man from his fellows, inciting him to amass all that he can lay hands on for himself, oblivious to the bitter sufferings of those around him, and careless of their woes. Whilst behind the whole course of nature there is the incessant activity of malignant spirits, who, as in the case of Job, may be plotting against us, reveling in any mischief, which, for some great reasons, they are permitted to work to our hurt. There are different ways in which affliction may be borne. Some despise it (Heb. 12:5). They refuse to acknowledge any reason in themselves for its infliction. They reject the lesson it was designed to teach. They harden themselves in stoical indifference, resolving to bear it with defiant and desperate courage. Some faint under it (Heb. 12:5). They become despondent and dispirited, or lose heart and hope. Like Pliable, they are soon daunted, and get out of the Slough of Despond with as little cost as possible to themselves; or, like Timorous and Mistrust, turn back from the lion's roar. We ought to be in subjection. Lifting the cup meekly and submissively to our lips; calmly and trustfully saying "Amen" to every billow and wave; lovingly trying to learn the lesson written on the page of trial; and bowing ourselves as the reeds of the river's edge to the sweeping hurricane of trial. But this, though the only true and safe course, is by no means an easy one. Subjection in affliction is only possible when we can see in it the hand of the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:9). So long as we look at the second causes, at men or things, as being the origin and source of our sorrows, we shall be filled alternately with burning indignation and hopeless grief. But when we come to understand that nothing can happen to us except as our Father permits, and that, though our trials may originate in some lower source, yet they become God's will for us as soon as they are permitted to reach us through the defense of his environing presence, then we smile through our tears; we kiss the dear hand that uses another as its rod; we realize that each moment's pain originates in our Father's heart; and we are at rest. Judas may seem to mix the cup, and put it to our lips; but it is nevertheless the cup which our Father giveth us to drink, and shall we not drink it? Much of the anguish passes away from life's trials as soon as we discern our Father's hand; then------ Affliction becomes chastisement. There is a great difference between these two. Affliction may come from a malignant and unfriendly source; chastisement is the work of the Father, yearning over his little children, desiring to eliminate from their characters all that is unlovely and unholy, and to secure in them entire conformity to his character and will. But, before you can appropriate the comfort of these words, let me earnestly ask you, my reader, whether you are a child? None are children in the sense of which we are speaking now, save those who have been born into the divine family by regeneration, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Of this birth, faith is the sure sign and token; for it is written: "Those that believe on his name are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Are you a child? Does the Spirit witness with your spirit that you are born of God? Can you look up into his face and cry, "Abba, Father"? If so, you are surrounded by your Father's tender, loving care. Nothing can reach you without passing through the cordon of his protection. If, therefore, affliction does lay its rough hand upon your arm, arresting you, then be sure that it must first have obtained permission from One who loves you infinitely, and who is willing to expose both you and himself to pain because of the vast profit on which he has set his heart. All chastisement has a Purpose. There is nothing so absolutely crushing in sorrow as to feel one's self drifting at the mercy of some chance wave, sweeping forward to an unknown shore. But a great calm settles down upon us when we realize that life is a schoolhouse, in which we are being taught by our Father himself, who sets our lessons as he sees we require them. The drill-sergeant has a purpose in every exercise; the professor of music, an object in every scale; the farmer, an end in every method of husbandry. "He does not thresh fitches with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod." So God has a purpose in every pain he permits us to feel. There is nothing fortuitous or empirical or capricious in his dealings with his own. The purposes which chastisement subserves are very various. Of course we know that the penalty of our sins has been laid on the head of our great Substitute; and that, therefore, we are forever relieved from their penal consequences. But though that is so, yet often chastisement follows on our wrong-doing; not that we expiate the wrong-doing by suffering, but that we may be compelled to regard it in its true light. Amid the pain we suffer we are compelled to review our past. The carelessness, the unwatchfulness, the prayerlessness which have been working within us pass slowly before our minds. We see where we had been going astray for long months or years. We discover how deeply and incessantly we had been grieving God's Holy Spirit. We find that an alienation had been widening the breach between God and our souls, which, if it had proceeded further, must have involved moral ruin. Perhaps we never see our true character until the light dies off the landscape, and the clouds overcast the sky, and the wind rises moaningly about the house of our life. Times of affliction lead to heart-searchings, and we become increasingly aware of sins of which we had hardly thought at all. And even though the offense may be confessed and put away, so long as affliction lasts there is a subdued temper of heart and mind, which is most favorable to religious growth. We cannot forget our sin so long as the stroke of the Almighty lies on our soul; and we are compelled to maintain a habit of holy watchfulness against its recurrence. It is also in affliction that we learn that fellowship with the sufferings of Christ and that sympathy for others which are so lovely in true Christians. That is not the loftiest type of character which, like the Chinese pictures, has no background of shadow. Even Christ could only learn obedience by the things that he suffered, or become a perfect High-Priest by the ordeal of temptation. And how little can we enter into the inner depths of his soul, unless we tread the shadowed paths, or lie prostrate in the secluded glades of Gethsemane! We who attempt to assuage the griefs of mankind must ourselves be acquainted with grief, and become men of sorrows. Be sure, then, that not one moment's pain is given you to bear that could have been dispensed with. Each has been the subject of divine consideration before permitted to come, and each will be removed directly its needed mission is fulfilled. Special discipline is evidence of special love (Heb. 12:6). It costs us much less to fling our superfluities on those we love than to cause them pain. Indulgence is a sign not of intense but of slender love. The heart that really and wisely loves will bear the pain of causing pain, will incur the risk of being misjudged, will not flinch from misrepresentation and reproach; from all of which a less affection would warily shrink. It is because our Father loves us that he chastens us. He would not take so much trouble over us if we were not dear to his heart. It is because we are sons that he sets himself to scourge us. But oh, how much he suffers as he wields that scourge of small cords! Yet, hail each blow; for each sting and smart cries to thee that thou art being received into the inner circle of love. When suppliants for his healing help came to our Lord, for the most part he hastened to their side. But on one occasion he lingered yet two days in the place where he was. He dared to face the suspicion of neglect and the loving impeachment of bereaved love, because he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. He loved them too much to be satisfied with doing small things for them, or revealing only fragments of his great glory. He longed to enrich them with his precious revelation of resurrection life. But his end could only be reached at the cost of untold sorrow, even unto death. Lazarus must die, and lie for two days in the grave, before his mightiest miracle could be wrought. And so he let the thunder-cloud break on the home lie loved, that he might be able to flash on it light which broke into a rainbow of prismatic glory. If you are signally visited with suffering, such as you cannot connect with persistence in carelessness or neglect, then take it that you are one of Heaven's favorites. It is not, as men think, the child of fortune and earthly grace, dowered with gifts in prodigal profusion, who is best beloved of God; but oftenest the child of poverty and pain and misfortune and heart-break. "If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons." Oh, ye who escape the rod, begin seriously to ask whether indeed ye be born again! Pain is fraught with precious results (Heb. 12:10, 11). Not joyous but grievous: nevertheless afterward. How full of meaning is the "afterward." Who shall estimate the hundredfold of blessing from each moment of pain? The Psalms are crystallized tears. The Epistles were in many cases written in prison. The greatest teachers of mankind have learned their most helpful lessons in sorrow's school. The noblest characters have been forged in a furnace. Acts which will live forever, masterpieces of art and music and literature, have originated in ages of storm and tempest and heart-rending agony. And so also is it with our earthly discipline. The ripest results are sorrow-born. "The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown." Holiness is the product of sorrow, when sanctified by the grace of God. Not that sorrow necessarily makes us holy, because that is the prerogative of the divine Spirit; and, as a matter of fact, many sufferers are hard and complaining and unlovely. But that sorrow predisposes us to turn from the distractions of earth to receive those influences of the grace of God which are most operative where the soul is calm and still, sitting in a veiled and darkened room, whilst suffering plies body or mind. Who of us does not feel willing to suffer, if only this precious result shall accrue, that we may be "partakers of his holiness"? Fruit is another product (Heb. 12:11). Where, think you, does the Husbandman of souls most often see the fruit he loves so well, and hear the tones of deepest trust? Not where his gifts are most profuse, but where they are most meager. Not within the halls of successful ambition or satiated luxury, but in cottages of poverty, and rooms dedicated to ceaseless pain. Genial almost to a miracle is the soil of sorrow. Necessary beyond all count is the pruning-knife of pain. Count, if you will, the precious kinds of fruit. There is patience, which endures the Father's will; and trust that sees the Father's hand behind the rough disguise; and peace, that lies still, content with the Father's plan; and righteousness, that conforms itself to the Father's requirements; and love, that clings more closely than ever to the Father's heart; and gentleness, which deals leniently with others, because of what we have learned of ourselves. Nor is it for very long. Jesus, who endured the cross and shame and spitting, is now set down on the right hand of the throne of God. Ere long we too shall come out of the great tribulation, to sit by his side. Every tear kissed away; every throb of anguish stayed; every memory of pain allayed by God's anodyne of bliss. The results will be ours forever. But sorrow and sighing, which may have been our daily comrades to the gates of the celestial city, will flee away as we step across its threshold, unable to exist in that radiant glory. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain." "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." "Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees." (F. B. Meyer. 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