Peaceable Fruit of Righteousness

"Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed."

Hebrews 12:11-13

The writer of Hebrews exhorted Christians not to be faint or become weary of God's chastening for sin, for it was not a rejection of them but their wickedness.  His divine correction affirmed they were God's beloved children, and this ought to be a cause us to rejoice greatly.  Jesus endured great hostility from sinners against Himself, and with Christ in us Christians can endure hostility from sinners as well as God's chastening by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Being chastened and disciplined is painful, yet by faith in God it will work to yield pleasant fruit in our lives:  the peaceable fruit of righteousness.  Being chastened and corrected for sin trains God's people to learn to lay aside every weight and the sin that easily ensnares us, and God is faithful to help us run the race He has set before us with endurance as we look to Jesus.  Training to learn a new skill, to improve in a sport or the mastery of an instrument requires practice and repetition.  It is easy to develop bad habits, thus frequent correction is required for us to learn the fundamentals.  As we learn to surrender our lives to Jesus in obedience to His instruction, God will cause our lives to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness and holiness.

The writer of Hebrews says in light of this, we ought to strengthen hands which hang down and the feeble knees.  Training can be exhausting, and repeated failures can be demoralising.  We can feel down and overwhelmed by the extent of our sinfulness and chastening from God even though it is for our good.  We can focus on how sinful we are when our eyes ought to be fixed on the sinless Saviour.  The hanging hands and feeble knees can be descriptive of individuals as well as a body of believers, for we are members of one another.  Everyone is at a different stage in their spiritual growth, and in our growing seasons we can help bear the burdens of the weak, encourage and edify them with godly living.  Verse 13 says Christians ought to make straight paths for our feet so what is lame may be healed rather than being dislocated.

A dislocated foot renders a person unable to stand or walk at all due to debilitating pain.  The first part of James 3:2 reminds us, "We all stumble in many things."  It is easy to stumble when we did not notice a kerb or we failed to lift our feet high enough over uneven ground.  These sort of things happen at times to everyone who walks--and is spiritually true concerning our walk of faith.  Choosing to follow Jesus and walking in His steps according to guidance of Scripture and the Holy Spirit promotes healing of lame ankles.  In a spiritual sense we are all lame, and by the miraculous power of Jesus and the Gospel we are empowered to live God's way that works to restore our health and strength.  Rather than despising God's chastening, we ought to submit to Him so our lives will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness.