I’ve said before that Jesus is the most accepting, encouraging person I’ve ever met. He is extremely positive and “can do.” In correction, in direction, in life, He has a perspective that is life and not death; good and not bad; and hope and not giving up/despair. He truly embodies John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life, and life abundantly.”
Some Christians have taken this perspective of acceptance and encouragement and tried to apply it to the way they live and treat other people – in effect, to treat people the way Jesus treats people. When done well, this is a beautiful thing. It sets people free to be celebrated and accepted no matter how they’ve fallen down this week, where they’ve failed in life, etc. Again, when this is accepted in the right way, it sets these people free to be their best without the terror of failure.
However, Christ-like-ness is just that – being like Jesus. And while Jesus is the most encouraging person I’ve ever met, that doesn’t mean I don’t get rebuked and corrected now and then. The Son of God didn’t seem to mind telling the churches in Revelation where they were wrong. He wasn’t sitting their saying, “Oh yes, you’re doing just fine! Nothing needs to change; you’re trying to follow God, never mind that your deeds don’t match up with your words.” Instead, He said, “You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Revelation 3:17-18) He told them their sin like it was. Then He gave them the solution they could choose if they were willing – not just a solution, but hope for their relationship with Him. In Christ, correction rarely comes without a solution and hope.
The truth is that loving people well is about encouragement and acceptance of them as they are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But love is incomplete if there is no space for correction. And correction in love is hopeful – for good and not for evil. Yes, it may sting or hurt. But it always comes with hope, even if the hope is nothing more than, “God has got this, and I can trust Him as I course correct, repent, or whatever else is necessary in this situation.”
In some extremely rare situations, the correction is still with love but without hope because the promise of hope has been squandered. For example, when Jesus spoke to another church in Revelation, He said, “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering.” (Revelation 2:21-22) Most people I have met who value their acceptance and encouragement at all will be quick to repent – they see the encouragement as an opportunity to start over and do it right, not a reason they can go on sinning. It’s only those who despise the grace given them who continue in sin after being offered correction and hope.
Don’t despise correction from God, and don’t refuse to correct other people. But when you encounter either one, look for the love, encouragement, and hope aspects – because there is almost always forgiveness and repentance to be found, and through that, a return to the right relationship with God and people.
