Yielding to Correction

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
My child, listen when your father corrects you.
    Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
What you learn from them will crown you with grace
    and be a chain of honor around your neck. (Proverbs 1:8-9, NLT)


REFLECTIONS:
This passage is certainly about as straightforward as it can possibly get. However, don’t let it escape you even if you feel you are not a part of the intended audience. This is an instruction for all times of life. The role and authority of a parent changes over time, but there should always be a parental figure in everyone’s life, whether it is one of the parents of your youth or otherwise. 

There is a Western thought that once someone moves out of their parent’s house, they have to go “figure it out” or “make it on their own,” but we see something very different throughout Scripture and in the life of Jesus. Jesus was thirty-three years old, which is certainly old enough to have a wife and two kids, be working the corporate grind, and making His own decisions. However, by regularly getting away from the flow of the crowds to seek the will of the Father, His life was radically different.

So, is there someone in your life who you allow to correct and restore you, and who builds you up even in the midst of correction? If not, I implore you to open up and mature a relationship so that someone is able to correct you in ways that are full of grace and for your benefit. I believe it will be a safety net for your life and a load off your shoulders because there won’t be as much of a need for second-guessing and having it all perfectly figured out. Perhaps being open to correction is part of what Jesus meant by “child-like faith.”


POINT OF ACTION:
If you so choose, tell one of your close friends that you want to be open to their correction in any area of your life. I’ve done this before, and it’s not as awkward as it might seem. Also, the instruction that comes from these relationships are much more kind and loving, considering they know you trust them and are ready to listen (in other words, they are not like those people who like to weigh in on every area of your life and give their personal manifesto on everything you’re going through). Lastly, when they do correct you, don’t take it as a personal attack on your character but rather a welcome instruction on becoming a better woman/man of God.


PRAYER:
Father, we are open to Your will, and we submit our lives to You. Teach me Your ways that we would be more like You. We delight in Your instruction and correction.


WHO AM I?
My name is Jordan Bland, and for some reason I just got a whiff of that awful smell you get when an airplane first gets pressurized, and it’s making me nauseous.