11. If you aren’t broken by the cross of Jesus Christ, the Bible can be an instrument of death in your hands.
“The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life,” said Paul. Wielding the Bible with unbroken flesh is a dangerous thing.
12. If your correction of your brother or sister hurts them more than it hurts you, you probably haven’t corrected in Christ.
13. If you do not correct someone in gentleness and utter humility, there’s an excellent chance that you will fall into the same temptation or worse.
Many years ago, I remember reading a book by Watchman Nee where he said that in his experience, anytime a believer corrected another believer with a judgmental self-righteous attitude, that same believer who did the correcting later fell into something equally serious or worse. Paul said so much (1 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 6:1), and I’ve watched it myself over the years.
14. In everything, be swift to hear the whole matter, slow to speak, slow to draw a conclusion, and slow to anger (James 1:19; Proverbs 18:13).
Again, an entire book can be written on this subject. These are just some lessons I’ve learned over the years. And I hope they encourage you.
May we as God’s people take higher ground when it comes to correcting the faults of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
