Hebrews 12:7, 9b explains this strange title. "Be patient when you are being corrected....Isn't it even better to be given true life by letting our Spiritual Father correct us?"
"I would surely like to be given true life but being patient while I'm corrected, I find, is a hard one. Yet, I've got to give it a go. The writer, unknown according to scholars, has a lot of good things to say, but they are hard to hear. Our granddaughter Jenna, when she was about 6 years old, loved to spell, but she would say, "Too hard!" when she couldn't figure out how to spell a word. I know how it feels to find some correction I must make to be "Too hard!"
"Correction usually makes me feel like I've failed completely--in every way. I hit bottom. Why that is, I don't know; I can only guess. But, I simply must learn to take it and take it good-naturedly and patiently. If I can just remember that God corrects those He loves. And that He usually corrects them through comments of others. This is the way to "true life." True life doesn't just mean being truthful, but it means accepting truth abut yourself with grace and humility.
"God, I am proud and stiff-necked about being corrected, an old so and so just like your Old Testament people. But I want to humbly take correction, grin and accept it, and try again. Root out that pride, Lord, through a zillion corrections, if necessary."
And I thank you in advance for the day when I can bow my head at correction and agree. "You are absolutely right," I will say. "And thanks for reminding me!"
Jo INMN
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