God calls those within the church His children. He wants to nurture them to have the same gracious heart. To create a heart like His He does not put them under rules but a relationship of grace, and at the same time raises them like well-loved children. Only the greatest of fathers could take well-practiced wrongdoers and, through kindness and discipline, turn them into people of compassionate character. He does this through child training of grace.
Grace is the way God teaches His children. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone, child training us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. Titus 2:11-12 God raises us as a good “dad” who wants to drive folly and maliciousness from our hearts. When we do wrong He does not give us the punishment we deserve. Instead, He child trains through discipline, the withholding of blessing, as well as by allowing us to experience some of the effects of our folly and by weakening us. He does this so that the consequences drive us back to Him.
At the completion of God’s plan for the church, He will bring those who believe in His Son to heaven forever. Just as the beauties of Paradise were a gracious gift to Adam and Eve, so heaven will be freely given to God’s children. No expulsion from heaven will occur, because the One who died for them will keep them securely there. Endless ages will not be enough to contain God’s loving grace for His own.
