Repentance: An Invitation to RestSample

Correction is Not Punishment

Read that again: Correction is not punishment.

While there is an element of exposing error, the focus and goal of correction is the moving of the corrected person toward truth and right behaving.

We tend to take offense at being told we are wrong, misguided, mistaken, or misinformed. We sometimes wear it as a badge of honor that we shall remain unmoved in the face of any denial or challenge to our beliefs, position, and stance.

And yet, the Father's act of correction is a movement of His love toward us; His undeserved, unearned—and oft-spurned—love for us.

When our children veer off-course, we pray and plead and admonish and attempt to correct their view, their thinking, and their actions. Not because we find fault in who they are—fault which must be purged. No, it's because we see the potential in them, the good—the GREAT, even… and we love them so much, that we don't want anything to hold them back from that greatness.

Such is the Father's love for us.

Reflection

Do you find yourself resenting correction? Ask God for His eyes to see how much He loves you that He would correct you when you are wrong.