30 Mar 2015
CHECK YO'SELF

'...They did not respond to correction...' Jeremiah 2:30

'If only I had checked myself.' - Guy Who Wrecked Himself Chances are you're not perfect. Most people accept that, so why is it so hard when other people acknowledge the fact out loud? When someone mentions something that we could have handled better, or something we could improve at, it's easy to take it like an arrow to the knee. Actually, we need people who'll be honest with us. A lot of the time, we act before we actually use that brain God gave us, so when someone comes along and lets you know what you could be doing better, it really is a blessing, not a curse. Think about it this way, you wouldn't hand a document to your boss or a piece of coursework in without checking your spelling first, right? Sometimes, we need someone to 'proof-read' us. Sure, it depends on how they do it: there's a difference between "You suck at this!" and "Hey, that thing you did, that ain't cool," but generally, we don't get offended because of the way someone's criticized us, but because they've dared to suggest we're not perfect. Which shouldn't be news to us. Solomon (super wise Bible bro) said "To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction." (Proverbs 12:1 NLT) We can help other people too, by correcting them, but make this always because we love them, not because we want to humiliate them. Act Now. Talking of not humiliating people with our words, let's change our vocab. When you speak about any other people today, drop the labels (stuff like 'the poor', or 'underprivileged' - even words like 'idiot'). Find ways of describing people that give them the most dignity and respect.