Rebuke!

Proverbs 15:31-33

      Do you like being rebuked, having your failures laid out before you by someone who has earned the right to speak into your life? How about by someone who you don’t respect? Rebukes can be difficult to take. They usually happen at a point of vulnerability, our vulnerability.

      Rebukes can be life-giving! As a child runs out into a busy road, the screamed “Stop!” brings life. Our attitude toward the source of the rebuke makes a big difference in how we respond to the rebuke. If we trust the person to have our best interest at heart, we allow the rebuke to correct our behavior or attitude. If we don’t know the person, or trust them, we generally blow off the rebuke.

      We all need correction. We all need people who know us well enough to know when we are getting off track. They watch our life and bring a course correction early in our self-imposed detour. They don’t allow us to get too far off track. They are there with just the right word to get our attention, and only enough rebuke as is needed to get us back on track.

      One of the greatest barriers to receiving correction is pride. When we have too large a picture of our importance we generally will not hear a rebuke. We will come up with excuses to dismiss what was said. Inside we know it is true, but we fight like a pit bull to keep up our delusion.

      If we ignore this kind of discipline, then we really demonstrate that we don’t like ourselves. It is as though we were playing with high voltage wires, being told how dangerous they are, and yet we continue to play with the wires. We know sin’s costs are high, and yet we continue to ignore the voices that remind us of the cost of sin and of the freedom that comes with obedience.

      But in order for us to accept a rebuke, we must have a proper understanding of who we are. We will always be just creatures! We will never be the Creator. The Creator has the right to create life in any way He chooses. He gets to choose the proper and most productive way of using everything He creates. If we use it according to the instruction manual, it works at peak performance. If we ignore the maintenance schedule, we will breakdown, creating costly and time consuming repairs. Our very lives were created. He knows how we live lives that are the most fulfilling. When we live them according to their design, harmony and peace reign.

Correction

Proverbs 15:10

      Do you ever wonder why some people seem to get away with so much, that they seemingly never get caught? Again and again, they do wrong and no one seems to care. Sometimes it doesn’t help to know that someday, way out there in the future judgment will come. Sometimes you want to see judgment quickly, right away.

      That desire for judgment quickly often comes from the pain whatever the other individual has caused. We somehow think that seeing judgment executed will bring relief. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn’t. Even those who witness the death of those convicted of the most heinous crimes don’t feel relief. They are often filled with mixed emotions.

      Sometimes nothing can bring relief. When someone is killed, killing the other person does not fill the void left by the loss of the loved one who was killed. It doesn’t bring the husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, mom or dad back.

      So if it doesn’t make things right again, why worry about judgment? Why not let all judgment hold on until eternity. This would probably be a good thing. Delay in judgment for the other person means delay in judgment for you, giving both of you time to repent.

      I know there are things in my life that deserve judgment. And I know I don’t repent immediately after some transgressions. So if judgment came immediately after the offense, or maybe a 24 hour cooling off period, we would all be in trouble. There is a delay in judgment for a reason. It gives time for repentance and corrective learning.

      We can all use grace. We all need correction. We all need to learn to “take our medicine.” Correction may not be pleasant, but it is necessary. Correction keeps kids safe as we teach them the dangers of this physical life. Pain can be a good teacher if the current pain isn’t fatal. You can’t get run over once in hopes that they lesson will be learned. The correction has to be strong enough to prevent that first occurrence.

      Correct will save our lives, if we heed its call.

Repeated Mistakes

Proverbs 13:18-19

I have received discipline many times in life, some earthly and some heavenly. Neither is comfortable. I think the worst happened when I was just lazy and did the wrong thing knowing that it was the wrong thing. I knew I deserved the discipline. I could have given it to myself.

I have also been caught off guard by discipline. I thought I had done the right thing and yet I hadn’t. After the fact, I realized that they were right. I deserved the discipline. The secret to successful discipline is learning from a mistake the first time, thus not repeating it.

One of the things I learned from playing trumpet is that you have to practice the right thing in order to get it right in performance. If you practice it wrong, either the wrong notes or the wrong rhythm, when it comes time for performance you will play it wrong. You might play it really well, but still be wrong.

I found it was better to learn the music right the first time, even if I had to play it very slowly. I could always speed it up to the proper tempo, if I had learned it correctly. But if I learned it incorrectly at the beginning, it was much harder to correct later on. The old way had a way of creeping back in. When I least expected it, the wrong music would come out.

The same thing applies in life. Habits I learned early in life are hard to break. I have to consciously do something different, or the old will just creep back in. I have to be willing to live a different way on purpose. Autopilot will crash my life. I must choose to heed correction daily. And when I do, it feels sweet!

I don’t want to live on autopilot. I want to make choices that enhance my life and the lives of those around me. I want to make a positive difference in the world, not because of who I am, but because of what Christ will accomplish in and through me. I want discipline to change me. I want to listen to its lessons.