Avoiding Stupidity

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” (Proverbs 12:1 NIV)

By this definition, I have encountered a lot of stupid people in my life.  A few months ago, I was talking with a fellow pastor who lamented the inability of any church to correct anyone.  “They’ll just go somewhere else,” he said.  

This has been my experience as well.  People can tolerate a lot of things, but few will accept being told directly that they are wrong.  I once had a student get upset with me who said she was leaving our ministry, but that she did love me.  I responded that if she truly loved me as a Christian brother, then she would honor me by being open to my attempts to reconcile with her.  She never responded.   

Hating correction is stupid because it prevents us from growing.  If you can’t accept being corrected, you will never grow.  I remember sitting across from my seminary professor in his office crying (literally) over a lost love.  It was not the first time I had been in his office to talk about my broken heart.  He looked at me and said, “Jim, have you given this over to God?”  It was a corrective question and it needed to be asked.  And because he asked it, I began to see how this relationship had become an idol in my life.  

An unwillingness to be corrected demonstrates both arrogance and insecurity.  We delude ourselves into thinking the way we live life is perfect (not in need of correction) because we are terribly afraid to admit our faults.  

We need to see correction as a gift rather than an offense.  It enables us to become the person God desires us to be.  And there is no greater friend than the one who will lovingly correct us when needed, if only we have the courage to accept it.  That will lead us away from stupidity into wisdom and growth.  

© Jim Musser 2013