The bitter and the scornful never like the idea of being corrected or rebuked for the heart is so set against others.
"The scorner has no love for the one who rebukes him, neither will he go to the wise [for counsel]." Proverbs 15:12, Amplified
To be scornful is to have either contempt or disdain. Anyone who does not have the Lord in their lives can come to that place of contempt. Think of it like a glass of water. By an open stove, the glass has the ambient temperature of the room and the extra boost of heat from the range. But if that water is moved farther and farther away eventually making itself into the freezer, the colder and harder that glass of water will get.
When the heart is this cold and hard it is difficult to express love to anyone, especially one who has rebuke and correction for you. But that heart will not reach out either. It is similar to the heart of Pharaoh when dealing with Moses concerning the release of the Israelites. Pharaoh hardened his heart nine times, after the tenth plague the the Bible says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. The idea of the Lord "hardening" the heart of man is actually showing us that the Lord established Pharaoh's heart. Our heart must be founded on something.
The heart of man can be a cold and bitter place, but filled with the love and wisdom of the Lord it can be a place for others to seek for truth and refuge. In order to be that refuge for others and to have the ability to lead others to the truth, we must first have the ability for a heart inspection. This may take some rebuke and correction, but rebuke is never going to be easy. No one enjoys being wrong. Correction is a tool invented by the Lord that allows us to better ourselves. There was a master sculptor who had created a beautiful representation of a lion. When asked how he was able to do such a thing he simply responded like this, "I chip away anything that does not look like a lion." Rebuke and correction chip away the parts f the heart that do not resemble the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment