Your Southern Can Is Mine

"Lookie here momma, let me explain you this

If ya wanna get crooked, I'll even give ya my fist

Ya might read from revelation, back to Genesis

Ya keep forgettin' that your southern can belongs to me.

So ain't no use in bringin' no jive to me,

Your southern can is mine in the mornin'.

Your southern can belongs to me."

Blind Willie McTell

And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them,  and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

Nehemiah 9:29-31

When I was young, I was not the greatest son.  I often disobeyed my parents and did things my way.  My actions often resulted in my Dad removing his belt and tanning my hide.  My dad had a belt with his name on it.  Tim.  One day, after my daily disobedience, he grabbed me, pulled my pants down and took his belt off.  He said that he was gonna whip me so hard that his name would be tattooed onto my backside.  he said that everybody would call me Tim from then on.  Was my dad a cruel man?  Was he just in his discipline, no matter how severe I thought it was at the time?  I learned a lot from those beatings that I deserved.  I learned how to be a man.  I learned respect.  My nature cried out to be free and to do things my way.  But I also knew that I was incapable of taking care of myself.  I needed my dad to provide me with a roof, clothing, food, and love.  I was his.  I may have thought that I could do things on my own, but I quickly realized by his loving guidance that I could not.  Every time I was disobedient, I was taking him for granted.  As the tattoo on my backside read, I was Tim's and out of his love for me, he was going to make sure that I grew up to be an intelligent and respectful member of society.

Looking back, I could see how so many of friends would have benefited from having a dad like mine.  Most of my friends in jr. high never went to college, they never made much of themselves.  They were left to their own accord.  Some even went to prison.  Most had children early on in life out of wedlock. Most have had hard lives.  I remember being asked to join them in bathroom for a smoke or to cut class.  While, I was all for being as mischievous as possible, I knew that if I were to get caught doing those things, my southern can would be torn apart.  I had a reverent fear of my dad.  I never doubted his love and his provision for me, but I belonged to him and his rules were in place to help me, and his discipline was purely out of love.

It is the exact same with God.  We are his sons and daughters.  No tantrum ever made my dad love me less.  No act of disobedience ever resulted in being kicked out of his house.  No amount of disrespect for him ever led to disownment.  But all my acts of disobedience did result in admonishment.  Admonishment means to reprove or scold, in a good willed manner.  Our Father in heaven admonishes his own.  We were bought with a steep price and belong to Him and Him alone.  Because he wants us to be the men and women that we were created and saved to be, He disciplines us with love.  No good work ever brought us into his favor and no bad deed will remove us from his favor.  So let us rest in his grace and take joy in his admonishment of us.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.  Let us abide in Christ and bear much fruit for Him.  And when we do stumble and fall, let us see God's powerful grace and mercy in action in his admonishment!  As God removes his leather belt, the one with Jesus Christ's name on it, the world will see the effect of his admonishment and know that our can's belong to Him.