October 28

Most people distain the idea of needing to be corrected. We like to think we’ve got our act together and if someone happens to disagree with what we do or what we say it’s because they simply don’t “get it” rather than because there is anything amiss within ourselves.

God doesn’t see us as we see ourselves, however. In His estimation, we all stand in need of introspection. We each need to allow the candle of His Holy Spirit to search out the inner recesses of our minds where our understanding dwells, and our hearts where our eternal self dwells.

Proverbs 23:12 admonishes that we, “Apply your mind to instruction and correction and your ears to words of knowledge.” We need to allow ourselves to be taught the spiritual truths that facilitate our eternal well-being as we must allow ourselves to be taught the knowledge that facilitates our temporal well-being. We must allow ourselves to become students of the Word.

We must read it, not merely superficially but with its spiritual and historical intent in mind. We must listen to the expounding of the truths of the Lord from the vantage point of those who’ve apprehended its fine points. When we do, the Word becomes alive in us; it becomes our teacher and our disciplinarian. When we have allowed it to correct us, we begin to attain unto the perfection of Christ.