Responding to correction

We get corrected a lot by different people. Our well-wishers tell us when we go wrong, and our enemies attack us by pointing out our faults. Without doubt, we are not perfect and we all make many mistakes which other people notice. But what we also need to remember is that we have a built-in psychological response called defence mechanism which gets activated when someone points out something wrong in us. We try to deny it, justify it, excuse it, or even turn it around to attack the one who is telling us about it. The moment Adam and Eve sinned, the mechanism seems to have got triggered inside them, and we all have received it passed down through the generations.

Think of when Jesus took a whip and drove out the merchants from the temple. Do you think these merchants repented, learnt their lesson and started doing things right? We can imagine that they did no such thing, but started discussing among themselves how harsh Jesus was, the One who taught forgiveness, mercy and gentleness – how His eyes burnt with fury, how rough His actions were, how raised His voice was, etc. There was no thought at all about what they had been doing wrong, and how the Son of God was giving a demonstration of His righteous judgment for their correction. But in their mind, they turned Him into a villain and themselves as victims.

Even though we know, and many of us will admit, that this kind of response from us is not correct and we should not behave like that, we see that it pops up even before we have time to think! But Jesus came not only to forgive the sins we have done, but to take away our sinful nature and to give us His divine nature (2Pe.1:3,4). If we can allow ourselves to look at our nature because of which we sin, acknowledge it before God and ask for help, He is waiting to change us (He.4:15,16).

If we are serious about it, it will not even matter to us if it is an enemy who is accusing us. The only thing to do is to sit before God, examine ourselves to see if what he says is true, or there is some truth in what he is saying, and ask God to help us to change.

Just think of what happens if we behave in self-defence. We come away thinking that we have not done anything wrong, and that we are right in assuming that whoever told us otherwise has something wrong with them. In the end we don't even ask for forgiveness, and we block our path that would have taken us to become a little more like Jesus.

But as children of God that is not what we want. But this shows us that just to have good desires is not enough. What we do in different situations makes the difference. If we confess our sins, God will forgive us and also cleanse us. If we defend ourselves by turning the tables on the one who tried to help us, perhaps we even end up alienating him, and blocking all the help he could have given us in the future.

Our sinful nature has blind spots. We cannot always see things that are obvious even to others around us.