How Do You Take It

  You messed up. You done wrong. You took the left-hand path. You flubbed, forsook, and failed.

  It happens to all of us.

 Hopefully, you saw things for yourself but more likely somebody had to open your eyes to it. They called you to task. They slapped your hand. Told you no. You got chewed you out, criticized and critiqued

  How did you take it?

A wise son accepts his father's discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Proverbs 13:1 

  I’m beginning to realize that a true mark of spiritual maturity isn’t perfection but the ability to listen to correction. Oh for sure there will be some that will criticize baselessly but a wise man can see that and dismiss it. A fool however does that to everything that is told to them. Even when their error is obvious, they will attack the nature of the person correcting them and the way they did it and when they said it. They never accept the fault only redirect it to others.

 However, we never grow much if we do that.

  If I want to be better it takes me realizing when I am not at my best. Self-deception is too easy a trap to fall into. We need others to help us see the wrongs to make them right. Accountability to others keeps us honest. To do that we must learn to listen to correction. No matter how bad it might make us feel.

 Sensitivity to rebuke needs to not be about getting our feelings hurt but rather a willingness to act to fix the problem.

 If we can’t be told when we are wrong, we will never end up in the right.