Proverbs 12:1 (NCV) “Anyone who loves learning accepts correction, but a person who hates being corrected is stupid.”

Ok, I must admit when I read this verse in Proverbs 12 I felt a little twinge of pain because after all, who likes being told they’re doing something wrong? I know I sure don’t. However, when it comes down to living according to God’s word, it IS up to me to accept the correction that living a fully devoted life requires….whether I like it or not.

The writer of Hebrews says “God disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:5-6). He (God) disciplines us in the same way we discipline our children. As a parent, I discipline my child because I can see the consequences of his actions if he continues down a current path of motion. The same is true of our Heavenly Father.

God can see our lives from beginning to end. Just like the watchful eye of a caring parent, He sees when we are about to “touch a boiling pot on the stove” of our life and encourages us (through His word, previous life experiences, our friends and family, etc.) to “move” because He loves us and doesn’t want to see us get burned. His desire is to give us the abundant life He has planned for us,

Sometimes I think I’m just too caught up in my own agenda to see His plan clearly. I know discipline isn’t fun but when heeded it will produce a harvest of righteousness (Hebrews 12:10 – 11).

So, do you have any “hot-pots” in your life that are within reach?  Here are a few examples to help get you started… disobedience or rebellion to something God has asked you to do, gossip, little white lies, inappropriate relationships, bitterness, anger?

Why are there “hot-pots” in our lives that we keep touching over and over again? We know the pot is hot, yet we fail to learn from the scorched fingertip it produces. Some burns from hot-pots have burned deep and the pain is unbearable. So why won’t we just accept God’s loving discipline. It is only when we accept God’s correction that we can live the abundant life He has promised for us.

Related reading: Deut. 8:2-5; Rev. 3: 19 – 20; 2 Cor. 12: 7-10; 1 Cor 10:13