Responding to correction

Dear friend

Nobody likes to be told off. As children chastening might well have made us cry. As adults we too might feel sorrowful, even tearful, but we also could choose to feel annoyed, disrespected, revengeful, or recalcitrant. Maybe it's a pride thing, or at best it may be our sensitivity to perceived injustice, but either way correction is usually hard to take. It rarely makes us happy.

So how do we respond to divine discipline? Or how should we respond? The scriptures are not silent on this matter. We read in the Old Testament, Proverbs 3:11, 12.

11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

This makes me think of the story of two boys. The one who had what he considered "strict" parents said to his friend, "You're so lucky. You're parents let you do anything you want." To which the other replied, "Well at least your parents care about what you do".

It is comforting to ponder the care and attention our Heavenly Parents heap on us, including any necessary chastening. It is a sign of their concern and love. They desire to delight in us and they know how that is to be achieved.

Further familial counsel comes from the Old Testament again, this time from Job 5:17.

17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

So not only should we not despise our God (or His servants) when we receive a rebuke, either softly or sharply, (when moved upon by the Spirit in the case of Church leaders or our parents), not only is despising the wrong response, so is any other negative reaction wrong. In fact it is quite the reverse. We should be happy.

Now that might be easy to say. But I hope we take time to reflect before we react to chastening. I pray we will see correction as a positive experience; a necessary part of mortality. The phrase "it's for your own good could not be truer".

Samuel.