Why Receiving Correction Leads to Growth and a Godly Life
- Jack Selcher
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Summary
People often resist correction due to pride and fear of failure, yet receiving it leads to growth. While human correction can help, God’s correction is essential for a godly life. Scripture teaches that embracing discipline brings wisdom, protection, and blessing, while rejecting it leads to harm. Believers should welcome correction, model humility, and trust God’s superior wisdom, knowing His instruction leads to life and spiritual maturity.
I am paid to do what I hate. Let me clarify. I hate correction, but as a high school track and field coach, I repeatedly correct every athlete’s improper throwing technique without considering that they might hate correction as much as I do.
The Struggle with Receiving Correction
I view my corrections as helpful information that will make them better throwers. By contrast, I not only hate when others correct me but also feel their input like a nail in my foot and a threat to my sense of competence. Injured pride undoubtedly plays no small part.
Pride and Fear of Failure
Underlying my irrational response is a fear of failure, which is counterproductive to self-improvement. It is long past time to view others’ helpful information and knowledge as valuable as I consider mine and to thank them for it. I challenge you to do the same.
Responding to Human Correction
Some of my coaching corrections don’t improve throwing distance. Similarly, others’ corrections might not always make our lives better, but we should be grateful that they are trying to do so and not respond with knee-jerk defensiveness.
The Role of Spiritual Discipline
Correction and discipline are closely connected. Spiritual discipline is training to live a godly life. Wise people are receptive to it (Proverbs 15:5) and gain understanding through it (Proverbs 15:32).
The Danger of Rejecting God’s Correction
Repenting (Jeremiah 5:3) when we are on the wrong path and responding positively to God’s life-giving correction in the direction of truth ( Jeremiah 7:28) spares us from serious trouble (Proverbs 5:12) and a stupid way of life ( Proverbs 12:1) that ends in poverty, shame (Proverbs 13:18), and even death (Proverbs 15:10).
The Blessing of Accepting God’s Instruction
As counterproductive as resistance to human correction is, resistance to God’s correction is far more so. As sinful human beings, we naturally hate His correction as much, or more than we hate human correction. We reject it because we are eager to act corruptly (Zephaniah 3:7) and live as we please.
God uses His word to correct us ( 2 Timothy 3:16). That is why we must read and heed it daily. Following God's correction and instruction leads to an abundant life (Proverbs 6:23). That life is associated with trusting and drawing near to Him (Zephaniah 3:2).
Our Example and God’s Authority
If accepting others’ correction rather than rejecting it makes us better people in the long run, how much more accepting of God’s correction? Eliphaz declared that the one whom God corrects is blessed and counseled Job not to despise His discipline (Job 5:17).
Because God loves us, He punishes us when we refuse His correction to get our attention. We sometimes rebel against Him despite it (Jeremiah 2:30). Leviticus 26 describes God’s punishing the Israelites who continued to disobey and remain hostile toward Him. Rejecting God’s correction is not morally neutral. It occurs in a spiritual environment of rebellion and an emotional environment of hostility against Him.
Our acceptance of correction models the path of life to others, whereas rejecting it leads others astray if they imitate our bad example (Proverbs 10:17). As believers, we must correct one another so we can walk in God’s ways together (2 Timothy 4:2).
Finally, correcting God is never appropriate (Job 40:2). He knows everything about everything. We have no helpful information to enlighten Him. We are less qualified to correct Him than a worm is to correct us. His ways and thoughts are infinitely above ours (Isaiah 55:9). His correction is invaluable. Ours is not.
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