Be a Student

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

This verse is a pretty good summery of a big lesson God has been showing me here during my time in IGNITE. Coming here I had the mindset that leadership and staff should just trust me with things and that because they were checking up on me in things, they didn’t trust me.  I thought I had the discipline already to do so. I realize now they were completely right. Reproof and correction are something I used to really struggle with that I didn’t even realize was an area of sin. Because reproof can hurt. It hurts to disappoint people, it hurts knowing that I did wrong and that I need correction. But its only human for me to sin and make mistakes, I cannot be perfect. I hate disappointing people. But where does that hatred come from? I used to think that it came from the Lord but something He’s revealed to me is that’s those feelings often stem from self-consciousness which is once again self. I used to bemoan rebukes and being corrected and just dwell on my mistakes and see myself always as a liability and become to distracted to see the asset that I could be to the Lord if I would just surrender myself to Jesus. I hated correction because I wouldn’t see the fruits that came from it and the growth in my relationship with Jesus.  But I should be glad when I’m reproved because it teaches me how to serve Him better. But these rebukes and the pain I feel can be growing pains. It hurts to be broken and to disappoint, but I can rejoice in these pains because I know He will use them to draw me closer to Him.

Application: I will pray for a heart open to correction and understand that these can bring me closer to Him.