Please Correct Me When I Need It!!

Think about this word:  REPRIMAND.  How do you like that word?  It certainly carries with it the connotation of something negative.  Do you enjoy a reprimand from your supervisor or from a teacher?  A reprimand can be an embarrassing experience.  If you have ever experienced a public reprimand, you may have had to swallow a lot of pride.  You may have come away from the experience with hurt feelings and some resentment and anger.

In Galatians 2, Paul writes about a public rebuke of Peter.  Paul did this because Peter ‘was not acting in line with the truth of the gospel’.  There is no description of Peter’s reaction to this reprimand, but it had to be embarrassing for him.

Paul uses the word noutheteo in his epistles to tell Christians that we have a responsibility to one another that may be difficult.  This word is translated ‘to admonish, to warn, to counsel, to correct, or to instruct’.  Phrases that help with the meaning of the word are ‘keeping another on the right road, giving advice to another, or putting right what is wrong’.

Romans 15:14 says, ‘Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.’  In I Thessalonians 5:14, Paul writes, ‘We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.’

Personally, I do not relish with joy the thought of receiving an admonition.  But, in my humanness, I know that sometimes I need to be admonished for my own good.  If you are ever admonished or in a situation where you need to give an admonition, how should it be done?

The manner in which an admonition is done is important.  If someone that I deeply respect comes to me (as Paul says, ‘full of goodness, filled with all knowledge’), my response to that respected brother or sister will likely be positive.  When Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he said, ‘Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.’  Paul’s admonitions were heartfelt (with tears) and constant.

Admonition (correction) can be painful.  But, from time to time, it is necessary.  I heard this in a sermon once:  ‘If we don’t care enough to admonish, we don’t care enough’.  Another saying that speaks to the church’s responsibility for admonition is this:  ‘The church must embrace sinners but the church must confront sinning’!

Prayer:  Father, help me to be willing to accept admonition when I need it.  Help me to be caring enough and courageous enough to give admonition when it is needed.

Terry Brown

Abilene, Texas