Proverbs 29:1 (ESV)
He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
Being corrected is tough on most of us. We don't like it when our spouses correct us. We certainly don't like it when our children correct us. And we hate it when our parents correct us. But, what about when God corrects us? What about when He "chastens" us. We are told not to "dispise" the chastening of the Lord. We are not to look at God's correction as something light or something wrong. God chastens every son He receives, Hebrews tells us. So, when we are corrected by God we should be careful to not reject that correction - the alternative is that God will stop correcting us and allow us to just live our lives the way we want ... there is no remedy for that. God is in the process of perfecting us and purifying us. That is called sanctification.. If there is no willingness to take that correction than their remains no remedy and only brokeness. And, there is no warning for this. God will not give a three count that he is about to do something. Failure to allow reproof to correct us is suddenly stopped and brokeness is left. We all must ask if we are being corrected and shaped by God's correcting, done in grace. If not, their is no remedy remaining. Perhaps Esau gives us an example of this, as the writer of Hebrews points out:
Hebrews 12:15-17 (ESV)
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
He was beyond healing!
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