Skip to main content

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.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mighty Gulf

  It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding.  To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two.   Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God?   In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

You Are Not Getting Away With It

  It is hard to find a place in New York City to park unless you are a United Nations diplomat. They park wherever they want.   It’s not that they are allowed to but their diplomatic immunity keeps them from paying the cost. In one year alone the diplomats racked up 143,508 parking summonses, which would have cost them $15.8 million. Yet, because of the immunity, the punishments they incur are not enforced. So, they tend to park very badly   Solomon recognized this tendency. In Ecclesiastes 8:11he writes; “ Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil .” If we do not pay for our wrongs quickly, we tend to think they are OK.  This however is a terrible practice to have in our lives. In Romans 2:4-6, Paul warns us about the danger when we look at God’s tolerance and patience of our sin as acceptance. He warns it will make things worse for us in judgment since God wi...
Post a Comment
Read more