If you like this post, you can read the rest of my Distractions!
This is an open letter to those who hate being corrected:
You are stupid.
I didn’t just say that. The Bible did.
Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.
Proverbs 12: 1 (NKJV)
Let me tell you that I am standing first in line confessing my sin here.
I say that I love knowledge, but that is only until I go to the dentist’s office.
In fact, the last time that I was in the dentist’s office it was because I refused to listen to the dentist’s advice.
I wasn’t taking care of my teeth the way that I should have and I didn’t take care of the cavities that were chewing away at my teeth, resulting in a chipped tooth!
Of course this led to an even worse punishment than having a cavity filled, because it meant a two month long process by which I had the rest of that one tooth completely removed and two other teeth drilled into in order to make way for a bridge.
Every step of the process was terrible, but it only got worse because I refused the correction that dentists had been giving me for years.
I fear that I do the same thing far too often in my walk with God.
I know the Word of God pretty well, but sometimes I’m more of a “hearer of the Word” than a “doer of the Word” (James 1:23) and the results are disastrous, even worse than a two month long tooth ache.
The great news is that if we humble ourselves and soften our heart, God has given us all the instruction that we need to be corrected!
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3: 16-17
The other part that I want to address is that we should not be refusing correction from our fellow Christians either, because God put them in our lives for a reason (Ephesians 4:11, etc.) and we should not dismiss that.
I’m not talking about people who are just out to point fingers and put people down or trolls on the internet, but those who want to lift you up out of your sins and trespasses.
Don’t reject someone who is trying to help you by correcting you.
In other words, don’t be a fool, don’t be stupid.
Are you ever stupid like me?
