IBS Application for Proverbs 12:1

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

“The man who learns to know the good of discipline and correction will have a true understanding of knowledge; but whoever cannot accept correction is a stubborn fool,” is how I think I’d say this. There is a great truth in this Proverb, one that I think every man and woman ought to learn. Failing to recognize failure or refusing to be corrected when we get something wrong makes one foolish, but all who can learn to accept correction is wise.

Correction and discipline exist for our benefit. God Himself wouldn’t correct us if He didn’t love us. Sin is itself a failure to hit the mark and live up to the standard of righteousness. Although Jesus paid the price for our sin, He still expects us to learn from our errors so that we may take up His own righteousness for the sake of our salvation.

Think about why we are charged with keeping each other accountable, specifically in regards to heresy. Heresy is simply put, having an incorrect way of thinking about the nature of God, to such a degree as to always grossly misrepresent who He is. In essence, this is also idolatry, because a heretical idea about Him replaces who He actually is with some incorrect version of who He is. The heresy of deism for example thinks about God as if He were a god far removed from the world, with little interest in what goes on in His creation. This is contrary to everything the Bible says about Him, as He is a God who is intimately involved in His creation, because He has such great love for it all. A God who loves on the scale that God Himself claims that He loves us couldn’t not be involved with us and our lives. Therefore, a deistic version of the Lord is not Him, but an idol and a sinful idea about Him. And sin separates us from Him, which is bad for us.

In my own walk, I’ve had to receive correction from the Lord to get me out of the sin of inverted pride. I often believe as a legalist does, in that I behave as though the burden of righteousness is on me to attain. In those times, I believe that I *have* to be perfect and live up to Christ’s standard. But that is in essence trying to be justified by my own works, which are nothing more than filthy rags before the Lord. His grace has always been sufficient for me, so when I think like this, I essentially say that the Lord’s death on the cross isn’t good enough to save me. How arrogant of me. So of course, I’ve met Him at times on my own versions of Paul’s Damascus road experience with Christ to set me back on the straight path. And I’ve never not been grateful for it.

All ought to learn to love it when Jesus corrects us. It means that He still loves us and He is still working in us. There are few greater comforts than knowing that, so we ought not to be afraid or despair over correction.


My application will be that I will pray during my time back home that I would receive a greater willingness to be corrected, and that God would continue His work in me by correction, as often as I need it.

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