December 26: Proverbs 17 9-10

Key Verse: Proverbs 17 10
A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool.

Devotion:
How many times have you got upset with someone because of something they have said in the heat of the moment? Or maybe you have said something out of line in the heat of the moment and you can't think why the other person is still holding a grudge... We are a fickle bunch and we do cause arguments over the smallest of things. Those arguments may well lead to breaking up with friends unless you and they are willing to forgive.

Forgiveness has to work from both ends as well, when one side forgives, the other side has to accept and trust in that forgiveness because without accepting and trusting in it, there is still a wedge between you and them. Being able to look over mistakes and things said in the heat of the moment is a big step forward to being able to seek and keep friends. In families we learn to do this all the time (or at least we should,) so why not extend that to everyone?

But there are going to be times when someone goes too far. At that point someone is going to have to express themselves and point out where things have gone wrong; but there is a big difference between pointing out an error and shouting your head off. There may be a fine balance between what should be pointed out and what should be covered over, but if it's not causing problems then what is the problem. Forgiveness will go further!

Being able to accept it when someone points out an issue takes more than you think. The first thing we are going to do is rebel because of our nature. Then we may well retaliate. Finally, we may well turn our backs on them... What we should be doing is trying to accept mistakes as they happen or are pointed out. Because they have had to be pointed out, it means that someone is not happy with us. We then should try to learn from those mistakes.

God does try to point out our mistakes and sometimes allows things to go wrong in our lives to try and get us to focus on why things have gone wrong. We need to stop and listen!

Points to Ponder:
Have you upset anyone recently without apologising?

Think of the things we do against God without apologising.