Aug
02
2009
Responding to Correction
Posted by Tony Reinke.
Being told you’re wrong is never fun. And there is a range of responses we can make when others correct us. In his sermon Sunday on Proverbs 9:1—18, Joshua Harris explained how each of these responses exposes our character. The wise and the fool are measured, at lest in part, by their response to correction and reproof (see vv. 7—9). Harris explained the spectrum of responses like this:
The Wise—(1) Loves correction. (2) Pursues correction.
The Growing—(3) Appreciates correction. (4) Begrudgingly accepts correction.
The Simple—(5) Is open-minded to correction. (6) Is indifferent towards correction.
The Fool—(7) Is annoyed by correction. (8) Judges those who correct.
The Scoffer—(9) Hates correction.
Harris used several real-life examples to illustrate each response.
He closed the message at the cross, the place where we are reproved for our sin most directly. “Correction [from others] is not devastating to those who have already been devastated by the cross.”
The audio of the entire sermon, “Lady Wisdom’s Food and Drink” is available online from the Covenant Life Church website. I recommend it.
2 Comments
Correction is good and needs to be done for the sake of growth in the individual and the church. However I have heard many sermons on how we should react or learn to accept it in a Godly fashion but I have heard very few on the dangers of the one doing the rebuke and the attitude and grace needed to correct properly.The one correcting ,if not done right , can come off as self righteous and condemning instead of a rebuke rooted in grace to bring about repentance and reconciliation. I have been on both sides and looking back I have realized I did not correct with a right heart and when I was corrected , was given a taste of my own medicine which really humbled me and opened my eyes to my own hypocrisy . To be rebuked or corrected is hard because our natural instinct is to defend but I think if the one bringing the correction does so in a biblical way , the response will be more often than not , favorable.
That's a good caution, RWS, but one that doesn't cross over into the territory of being rebuked or corrected. What I mean is, the wise will accept and even pursue godly correction, according to truth, and receive it even if it seems like the corrector could have been more gracious.
The one giving correction ought to concern himself with speaking the truth in love, graciously, with a view toward building up the other and benefiting him by presenting his Savior to him.
The one receiving correction ought to concern himself with whether the correction finds a place in his life; i.e., whether it's accurate. If it is, he should seek to apply it irrespective of the way it was presented to him.
I guess I say all these things because I'm a champion at not receiving correction when it's not given/offered in a perfect, sinless way. I fear we all want to be so coddled.
But our emotional makeup and estimation of ourselves should be so far rooted and established in Christ — in His person and His work — that when someone is too forceful with their correction that we find no need or desire to defend, but only receive the correction that will cause us to share in His holiness (Heb 12:10), without which we will not see Him (Heb 12:14).