"Hold fast to reproof, don't let go.
Keep it, for it is your life." -Proverbs 4:13
Imagine something with me. You have some virus on your computer. The virus makes your computer frustratingly slow, and may even be stealing your personal information for malicious purposes. But there's good news! You know exactly how to remove the virus, and it's actually quite simple. But there's bad news . . . every time you attempt to remove it, the computer shuts down. It just turns itself off. Horrible, right?
I have that virus. Not on my computer but in my brain. Unfortunately, you probably have it as well. It's called an aversion to reproof. While it may seem somewhat natural, it's actually malignant and fatal. It essentially makes you immune to medicine. By it's very nature, it won't allow anyone else to remove it. Only you.
Although it never disappears completely, once you identify it and begin to treat it, you can mitigate the symptoms significantly. Other viruses and diseases can be treated and removed, and your overall health can drastically improve.
This computer virus analogy helps me understand just how dumb I am being when I follow my instinct to run from feedback/reproof/correction. So many times I have just shut down when I started to hear things I didn't want to hear. I thank God for the wisdom of his Word, and for friends and bosses and co-workers and experiences that have helped me to start retraining that instinct. And now I sometimes actually manage to run towards reproof, rather than away from it.
Physical life, as most biologists define it, requires growth. If something does not grow, it is not considered to be alive. It's unfortunate that once we reach a certain age, we consider ourselves "all grown up." If we have no more growing to do, we are dead. This is why the proverb says, "it is your life." It has been my experience lately that my biggest "growth spurts" happen when I embrace reproof, and so I have I made it my goal to heed the word of God on this matter.
2 comments:
I can attest that one of the things that I feel was best about the experience of writing the dissertation was having to work with the readers. It took me a while to realize that their comments were intended as help to me (and O! did I need a fair bit of help along the way!). While it is not the case that all those who would seek to correct us do so from a sense of being of aid, one could easily argue that the Most High puts those people in our paths to help us grow.
Yeah, something I didn't address here is that there are certainly some forms of feedback that we must decide not to listen to.
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