Loving Correction –– Part I
There’s two sides of this coin. One, how to receive correction given in love. Two, how to give loving correction. This week, I’ll talk about the first. There’s a difference between receiving correction or criticism given to you by a person who cares about you, your development as a person, and your personal growth.
We’ve all probably had criticism or correction given to us unjustly or with harshness. You would be pretty unusual if you hadn’t experienced that. I’ve talked on this blog before about how to receive criticism––no matter how it was presented to you. It’s important that we learn to accept criticism and correction properly. If we receive properly, with the right attitude and spirit, we will grow in ways we could never foresee. We must get to the point where we “love” correction.
Because without alteration, we’ll stray…from our path…from God…from people. There’s a horrible move going on amongst hurt Christians who’ve been hurt in churches. It says, “We don’t need to go to church. God and I are enough together.” Yikes! That attitude is straight from the pit of hell. The devil wants Christians destroyed, and he will do it anyway he can, including deceiving Christians into thinking God and them are enough.
But that’s so wrong, for so many reasons. I’m not going to go into great detail here, but because a lot of these Christians have trouble receiving correction, they’ve wandered off––or worse––chose to leave their true faith.
We must realize that we are all human. Church leaders are human. They make mistakes in how they handle things, just like the rest of us do. The point is––how will we handle it? That’s what I’m talking about here.
Recently, God re-connected me with an old friend whom I had to separate from years ago. She’s in a pretty bad spot right now, both physically and mentally. She’s always had trouble receiving correction, and has problems with authority, but I believe God is working on her.
I give her all the encouragement I can. She’s in a time of great testing of her faith. The medical profession said she should have died before the end of last year…yet she is still alive. She’s always had a heart to serve the Lord, but for quite awhile, she has held attitudes and emotional wounds. With great effort, she’s trying to get past those things holding her back from greater intimacy with God. When we talk, she’ll tell me if I say something that helps her.
That encourages me. I’ve had to deal with Loving Correction before, and the un-loving kind. Yet, I am beginning to Love Correction, especially in my writing. I want to be the best writer I can. I also want to be the best person I can. What about you? Have you experienced Loving Correction? Leave a comment and let me know.
Donna L.H. Smith 
Good message.
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