Whoever heeds correction is honored

“Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.” (Proverbs 13:18)

 

Proverbs the Bible is a book of wisdom. A wise person can succeed in life of the world. Wisdom of a person is exposed through the words and actions. By saying a word it might save oneself in a danger, and sometimes the saying may make someone die. The man of wisdom referred in the Bible is a sincere man of faith, who lives in awe of God. The wicked tell commonly lies and are arrogant, also their acts are not sound. Moreover because the wicked are not wise, they do not know to be ashamed even after committing injustice. If you truly want to become a wise person, you should carefully lay ears to listen to God’s words. By doing it, one who realizes Christ’s lessons would eventually become a man of much respect and honor.

 

It is written in the text that those who disregard the discipline will have a defeated life. The discipline in Bible is an education including the commandments of God, the lessons of Christ, and the Bible Word. Then, what does it mean the words ‘disregard discipline’ in the text? Not only that not take words positively, but also refers to an attitude of rejecting the words at all. In general, there are two kinds of children who listen silently when parents say something to their children, and children who do not like to listen to. However, there are also children trying to fight back as well as rejecting to hear. This would be because such mind of the children is wrapped in an impure feeling of distrust or hatred against the parents. The future of those children will be easily predicted to be pessimistic. Likewise with that, the result of those who confront Christ will have to inevitably lead to defeat.

On the other hand, those who want to obey the commandment will receive an award from God. The Lord Christ’s commandment is the spring water that goes beyond lessons of general morality and gives eternal life. People often prefer to lean on the side of reality between the salvation of eternal life and the benefits of reality. They think that eternal life is far away and reality is around the corner, as they say, fists are closer than laws. Unless that mindset is fundamentally changed in the Holy Spirit, faith and commandment will be nothing more than external dressing for them. On the other hand, people who have been reborn in the Holy Spirit of Jesus are the men of good and complete wisdom in God, so they would like to share the grace of holiness with others. And they do calmly walking down the path that Christ taught. Therefore, any evil forces cannot fall down them.

People like to company with the same kind of people. Those who promote good things would help with each other for good work, and those who are evil try to accompany for a bad purpose. The Lord wants us oneself not only to be good and wise, but also to cooperate even with other people of wisdom. This is because doing so can create a holy, gracious, and righteous synergy effect. In this society, the wicked might seem to be more active and gaining more profit than the people with fine heart. Nevertheless, those who believe in Christ of sacrifice and triumph of Crucifixion know and expect that God’s wisdom will eventually win. As written in the Bible, the wealth collected by the wicked by all means will be someday given to the righteous. That’s like a case a squirrel losing the collected acorns without finding them later. Differently to it, those who live according to Christ’s will continue to live a stable life by generations and generations. At the time of the prophet Elijah, a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon had waited to die because she had nothing to eat, but by her obedience following to the prophet’s teachings, she could survive with her son a miracle even in a three-and-a-half-year drought. If we try to live obedient and righteous to God, we will never fail. As a man of wisdom who follows Christ, I wish you will be blessed by generations of descendants.

If you tell that the wealth of the wicked is to accumulate for the righteous, the wicked will be in anger, right? However, it is an inevitable true as spiritual secret. If they are to live a peaceful life without being angry, they only have a way to become a righteous person. If anybody believe in Jesus Christ and live according to the word of the Lord, he will become righteous being.

 

The theme of this message is that ‘those who do not break God’s lesson will be honored and blessed’. The title is not a difficult thing, but the problem is that people don’t abide by it. Jesus

said people to come and take a rest in His arms, to those who had worked hard and had a heavy burden. Resting in Christ gives strength, makes them comfortable, and all the problems are solved smoothly. And additionally they can also gain the ability to judge and deal with injustice in the world. Oh, Lord! so grateful to have a heavenly wisdom and to be honored in Thee.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Jan 23rd 2022)