Embrace Correction

I’ve had the privilege of coaching a 6th grade boys basketball team this year. At one point after practice I had the realization that these boys spent their entire day receiving various forms of correction from adults. They sat in classes all day with their teachers giving feedback on their work, they have chaperones at lunch and recess enforcing school rules, and then they come to basketball practice and have coaches running them through drills and adjusting shot form. These kids know what it is to receive correction. 

Adults in the room, when was the last time you received correction? How did that make you feel? Personally, correction always feels like an attack on me because some deficiency of mine is being exposed. And I like my deficiencies to stay hidden and under control. Why are kids so much better at receiving correction than adults? I think it’s because kids are told all the time that they don’t know everything. The regular reminder and experience of correction means they are poised to receive correction when it comes.

Friends, correction is an important part of the Christian life. There are many proverbs contrasting the pride of the man who cannot be corrected with the humility of the man who receives correction joyfully. Are you the kind of person who will receive correction humbly and joyfully? Or, is your first response self-justification and finger pointing to get the attention off yourself?

A humble man loves correction, and the Lord disciplines those he loves. When you hear correction this week, let me exhort you to first remember the gospel. Because the gospel says that no matter what that other person is saying about you – no matter what the mistake or deficiency or shortcoming is – you are so much worse than that person thinks you are. Your sin runs much deeper than whatever is being exposed. Because your sin is so much worse than whatever you are being corrected for, you don’t need to defend yourself. You can just hear the correction. And where it’s true, you can agree with it.

But like all other sins and shortcomings the answer is found at the cross of Christ. Christ died to pay the price that you could never pay. His love found you in the depth of your sin and he justified you. You will never make yourself more righteous than you already are in Christ. The correction of others is not a threat to your status before God. So don’t fight correction when it comes. Embrace it as a gift from the Lord’s hand to remind you of your unworthiness and his love for you.