The
Inevitable Penalty
“You will by no means
get out of there till you
have paid the last
penny.”
Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to
make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the
scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to
judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the
inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have
been "thrown into prison, [and] . .
. you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny"
(vs. 5:25-26).
Yet you ask, "Is this a God of mercy and love?" When seen from God’s
perspective, it is a glorious ministry of
love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He
wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting — the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are
willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work,
and the moment you realize that God’s
purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself
and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to
help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, "Yes, Lord, I will write that letter," or, "I will be reconciled to that person
now."
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant
for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these
verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to
your heart.
If you find yourself asking, "I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually
with God?" — then
ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now
what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an "ought" behind it— the knowledge
of knowing what we ought to do.
Taken from My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers.
copyright 1935 by Dodd Mead &