Willing to be corrected

What is our natural response when we have made a mistake and someone points it out? Denial, excuses, justifying ourselves, blaming someone else for it? That is what we can expect from our flesh, the sinful nature which we have inherited from our ancestors Adam and Eve. Both of them would not accept that they had just disobeyed God and committed a huge mistake. They started blaming others. All of us were born into this world with this nature, and this becomes obvious as we watch children grow up, even children of godly parents who have prayed for them and dedicated them to God!

We all know in theory that we don't know everything and that we have many weaknesses. This inevitably leads us towards producing mistakes. Even ungodly people recognise it and say, "To err is human." But it is quite another thing to admit that we have made a mistake, or that we have sinned in any particular situation! Our natural desire is to protect our self esteem and our reputation before people.

But can we ever hope to change and become better people, if we will not face up to our mistakes and sins, acknowledge them, understand why they happened, seek God for forgiveness and help to overcome, and become more careful in the future? We must understand that this will not happen automatically once we come to Jesus. While God is working in us to give us new desires and power, is it not our responsibility to work it out in the daily situations of our life (Php.2:12,13)?

When we think about it more we can see that one major reason why people refuse to come to Jesus is that they don't see themselves as sinners. They have been excusing and justifying themselves and blaming others for everything that has gone wrong, and they do not see any need for a Saviour. They think they are fine and that they know how to handle things. But apparently they have not thought through the matter and realised their Judge is going to be Someone who sees through everything and who cannot be deceived.

There are others who have repented from their sins and come to Jesus for salvation. But then our spiritual progress may be hindered because we have not understood this problem and learnt how to overcome this self-defensive behaviour. Then we are stuck at the same point in our spiritual progress where we repeat the same mistakes, commit the same sins and keep blaming other people and our circumstances for all the trouble we are facing.

"But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day" (Pr.4:18). This is a picture of how, as we get nearer to God through the light of His word, the hidden things of our life get exposed, and we are able to see the sinfulness of our previous actions, current attitudes, motives and goals more clearly. This gives us an opportunity to admit our sins and to overcome them. But there will be no progress if we refuse, or even if we leave the work of sanctification entirely to God.