Correction

How do you take correction?  This has been a struggle for me in my life and I know why.  Pride.  My pride doesn't want to be wrong.  My pride wants to the be the one with the right answers and who does things the right way.  Humility, on the other hand, says, "Thank you for showing me my error."  "Thank you for teaching me what is right."  "Thank you for leading me into truth."  I don't remember exactly when in my adult life I became aware of how deep my hatred of correction was but it was one of those sort of shocking discoveries.  And a very important one.

Today I am writing about correction because I had an interesting experience while reading the Bible the other day.  Here is what happened.  A devotional book I am using directed me to Matthew 10:1-10.  Included in it is the list of disciples that Jesus sent out.

Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew;

James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

Philip and Bartholomew;

Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;

James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus;

Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then I remembered that the lists of the disciples in the Synoptic Gospels don't match.  I thought, "I am going to see the differences, because I think there are a few of them."  So I looked up the lists in Mark and Luke and what did I find?  I WAS WRONG.  (Yes, you read that correctly!)  I was wrong.  There weren't a few differences in the list of disciples in the Synoptic Gospels.  There was one.  In Luke 6:16, Judas son of James is listed and Thaddaeus, who is listed in Matthew and Mark, is not.  That was it!  Yes, the order is different for each list but there is only one disciple whose name is different.  

What's the big deal?  The big deal for me is twofold:

1) I became aware that I had exaggerated the differences in the lists of the disciples in the Synoptic Gospels and misrepresented it to other people.  I realized I was wrong.

2) I was glad to be corrected.

The first is a big deal because it is very important to me to represent and explain God's Word thoughtfully.  I think of Paul's instruction to Timothy to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  (2 Tim 2:15)  My knowledge of Scripture had been inaccurate and was now corrected. According to my values, this is a very good thing.  I now know what the lists actually say.

The second reason this correction was a big deal to me was that I was grateful for it.  I was glad to be corrected!  I say, "Thanks be to God!" for this as it is evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in my life.  I no longer hate correction the way I used to.  I now appreciate it.  Accept it.  Maybe (hopefully) even welcome it.  God, in His mercy, is refining me and humility is growing.

I share this to give God credit for His work in my life.  I also share it as an encouragement to you.  Correction is a good thing not a bad thing in our lives.  It leads us into truth.  It puts us back on the right path.  Correction gives us an opportunity to be humble and humility is the way of Jesus.

blessings,

Tracy