We stand corrected.

“Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:30

Part of this process of remaining teachable is being willing to be corrected when you are falling short of God’s glory - when you are beginning to wander from Truth.

God sometimes does this by sending someone to confront you. Your response in moments like this will determine whether you will begin a downward spiral of self-righteousness, self-justification and self-pity, or whether you will thank God for the correction, turn back from your wandering and keep following Jesus.

By Jesus’ death on the cross we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Humbly receiving correction means acknowledging, once again, that we are completely lost and hopeless apart from God’s grace and mercy given through the death of His Son.

Checking our Opinions

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion” (Proverbs 18:2).

What is it that you want to say?

First, hold your tongue! Is your thought based on the wisdom of God? Does it line up with the whole teaching of the Word of God? Has God used His Word and the experiences He’s allowed you to go through to give you His understanding about a particular matter?

If the answer is ‘yes’, then you have a belief and a conviction that God may use to encourage others, strengthen His church, build His kingdom.

If you are not sure, or if the answer is ‘no’, then it’s best to keep your thoughts to yourself and bring them back to God in prayer for examination. By definition, opinions are beliefs that are based not on what’s necessarily true, but on what seems to be right or probable.

More churches and ministry teams have gone astray, missed the mark, and wasted precious time because their course of action had been determined not by the leadership of God’s Spirit, but by the opinion of the majority.

Let’s bring glory to God today by taking pleasure in His wisdom and understanding.

What’s in the bucket?

While on stateside assignment one year, we visited one of the Great Wolf Lodge resorts. It’s a huge, EXTREME indoor water park, with ridiculously fast slides.

In the center of the park is a really fun water playground. Perched about 3 or 4 stories above this network of walkways, water cannons, bridges and smaller slides is a massive bucket, continually being filled with water. Imagine your bedroom being filled with water; that’s about how much water this bucket holds.

Every 10 minutes or so, the bucket begins to reach the tipping point as it overflows with water, and then the deluge falls, flooding the playground below. A loud bell is rung when it’s about to tip over, so kids -- yeah, adults, too -- from all over the park come running to stand under the bucket and feel the weight of the flood hitting them from that high above.

“The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out” (Proverbs 17:14).

Imagine for a minute that all that water represents sin, and the bucket is your heart. You know what’s going to happen if you keep letting your heart fill up with anger and hatred and bitterness toward others?

When you feel strife building up inside you, the best thing is to immediately go to the Lord with it, or even perhaps talk to a brother or sister in Christ who can help you go to the Lord with it. Nothing good comes from reaching the tipping point.

God, continually fill up our hearts to overflowing with Good stuff from You today, and let that be what pours out for those around us.