Correction

Rebuking...I don't like receiving it and I definitely don't like doing it... I doubt that anyone really loves it. I mean, it's uncomfortable for all parties involved and takes a lot of time and prayer in order to do it in a loving way.

However, when done in the proper way, the end result is always amazing!

Far too often than I would like to admit, I think I can handle my own walk with the Lord without outside help. I make excuses for sin, I overly defend myself, I have a hard heart, I get angry or upset with people - essentially what I am saying is that I am not the easiest person to correct.

Today I was reading in 2 Corinthians and I came across a passage that I have read many times before, but have never read in this way and it simply blew my mind!

2 Corinthians 7:8- 13 (MSG)

"I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I'm glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That's what happened—and we felt just great."

This passage perfectly describes the way I feel when I'm in a position of being corrected or having to correct someone else. It's hard! But like I said before, when done in love, correction is absolutely beautiful and ultimately draws us closer to God and closer to our sisters and brothers in Christ.