Can We Take the Heat?

Matt. 7:2    
    Last week’s article was about loving someone enough to tell them they are in sin. We can not forget that whatever we judge people by, we will be judged. When speaking of a hypocritical judgment, Jesus warned us that, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matt. 7:2) Not only will we be judged by the same standard, we must judge with a righteous judgment, (John 7:24) the word of God (John 12:48). An expression I’ve heard my entire life is “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” We have to be ready to take the heat. So, this week I want to ask, can you take correction? It is easy to tell someone they are wrong, but it is not so easy to hear it yourself. You have one of two options when you are told you are in the wrong. Self reflect and assess whether it’s true, or deny, deny, deny that you could be wrong. A couple of examples come to my mind when I think of these two options.
    Example one is King Saul. In 1 Sam. 15, Saul is rebuked for not obeying the voice of the Lord, when he was told to utterly destroy the Amalekites. He did not. He allowed the people to bring back spoils of war and king Agag. He defended his choice, and blamed the people. He sincerely thought he was right with God, but sincerity is not the judge of right and wrong. He said, “I have carried out the command of the Lord.” (vs. 13) He had not. He defended himself again in verse 20 after being told he was wrong. It wasn’t until later he finally admitted it. He did not have the right attitude towards correction. The other example I think of is David’s sin with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah in 2 Sam. 11 & 12. He had a different reaction. Once Nathan the prophet told him he had sinned, verse 12:13ff tells us ‘The David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan then said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”’ He still had to pay for his sin. He still fasted, prayed, and showed remorse for his sin for 7 days (12:15-20). This is the attitude we must have. We will still pay the consequences for our sin, but we must be penitent of them. I love you all!

In His service,
Steven Hugley