Come Correct

Like any well oiled machine, we all need maintaining. Regardless of age, religion, culture or race, we seem to have a common issue; CORRECTION.

We live in a society where rebellion, disobedience and lawlessness lives. We don’t always listen, we don’t always follow instruction, we feel we have to have an answer for everything. We don’t like being told what to do, and even shun people who put us on the right path because of this little thing called correction.

Correct means: to set or make true, accurate, or right; remove the errors or faults from, to point out or mark the errors in, to scold, rebuke, or punish in order to improve.

Correction disciplines us (training to act in accordance with rules).

Correction is quite the taboo subject these days. If we are truly honest with ourselves we secretly hate being wrong. That little monster on the inside of us can raise up at the first sign of thinking we know better when we may actually not. That little ounce of pride oozes inside us, which either causes us to run from the truth or take it in order to grow from it.

Correction has two routes in your life dependant upon your attitude (how you think). It will either be your friend and mature you, or you will make it your enemy and eventually self destruct.

A short while back I wrote a post called An Untouchable Nature. It was about having an unbreakable nature, for better or worse.

Correction is the rod that breaks an untouchable nature. Correction re-shapes what can be touched, which is why you must have a teachable spirit/ nature.

You must allow yourself to become pliable. Not only to have the ability to learn or re-learn but to also be able to sustain it, THIS is the growing agent needed for correction to continue throughout your life. You have to be open to being teachable (capable of being instructed).

Responsibility and accountability must be your allies.

Whatever you correct must first be dealt with within yourself.

Matthew 7:3-5: Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

It is so easy to point out another mans fault but the true challenge is to point out your own. I do not mean in terms of self esteem, but in terms of truth.

A man (universal context) will never hear you or take heed of correction from you if he sees the behaviour of that same seed which you are correcting him with, on the inside of you.

You cannot correct what is not corrected inside of yourself first.

Mark 4:24 and Luke 8:18 speak of WATCHING HOW YOU HEAR. If you hear correction and do not take it, you have not heard it but you have listened to it. There is a difference between hearing (to learn by the ear or being told by) and listening (give attention with the ear).

Just because you have heard someone say something it does not mean that you have taken it on board. The difference is the decision we personally make on whether we act or not upon that which we have just heard.

You have to hear what is being said, as to whether you agree or not in truth rather than emotion. This is why you must be teachable as you have to be able to hear what is being said, weigh it up as to whether there is truth in it or not, and then act accordingly mentally, spiritually and physically.

Romans 12:2- And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

We must change the way we think about correction. To be put right, regardless of how we feel, is actually a good thing. It is better to be blessed for having a good character that has been forged by correction in life, than a character that stinks of pride and rebellion.

Why let pride have its perfect way in you? To be wise (having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion) is far better than a wounded ego.

We are familiar with the phrase YOLO (you only live once). So why not hear, take on board and make positive changes in a world that needs it.

Proverbs 1: 1-7- To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behaviour, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Correction makes a person wise because they learn from situations and circumstances.

Hebrews 12:6 and Revelation 3:19 speak of God correcting those he loves. Why should we on earth be any different?

Don’t be afraid or deluded by not wanting to be corrected. You will be gifted by it in the end.

A Present Problem

As a people we have both healthy and unhealthy obsessions with our past and our future.

Our past speaks of situations and circumstances that we have been through and may still keep or have kept us captive for a long time. They have hit our physical, emotional and spiritual states, being reason for why they are impacting. Our past forms of things which have or we have allowed to hit the very core of who we are, being reason to why we find it hard to let go of certain things and allow ourselves to become or stay chained to what has happened and what once was.

The future on the other hand can be similar but contrary. Rather than being chained to what happened, we are chained to what can be. Our future speaks of the unknown, a scary place for the human species. We obsess and have cautious anxieties and deep fears over who we will become, what we will do and how we will be and live. These fears and anxieties can often cause us to resist or relapse on what we can be in life and what we can do.

The only problem with this double sided coin of past and future is that it misses one key element, the present. We always speak about our past, how we should let things go and not become a slave to our past. Also the future in terms of striving to be your best so your future can be bright and successful. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this but we never seem to concern ourselves with our present, the ‘now.’

We believe that our past and future hold the key to our lives but I believe that it is your present that holds the key to your life. This thought has been running through my mind since the start of the new year. Our past and future can hinder us but our present can stop us.

What exactly do I mean by this? Let me put things into a different perspective. We live in the present, surviving our past regardless of what we have been through and where we have come from, and making way for walking into our future. However your present is the now you that is living. Your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual state are what cause you to stay locked in your past or dead to your future. A glimpse of our future gives us hope and the letting go of our past allows us to become free, but our present must ‘see’ and ‘walk’ this out in the now.

No matter what happened in your past or how prospering your future is, if your present self is not mentally, physically, spiritually or emotionally right, making the right decisions or walking in the right direction, it can and will abort who you really are and all you will become. What you submit yourself to you will become. This is why our present and now self must be in a constant state of renewal, healing and rebuilding, otherwise it will stop us from breaking away from our past and put glass in front of our future, only allowing us to see what could of been.

Let’s get our minds and hearts right from 2016 onwards. Let us find ourselves in these constant states of renewal, healing and rebuilding. Our present self must be free and making the right decisions that enable us to be free from our past and able to achieve and bring life to our future. Even as we have entered into this new year with new hopes, desires and goals to accomplish, let us also think about what our present state is allowing us to become.

The Sowers Seed

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.  But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died.  Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.  Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!  Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Matthew 13: 3-9 (NLT)

This story speaks of a farmer who plants seeds. It is illustrated to us that there are different types of soil which either promote or demote the growth of the seed once planted.

I wish not to talk about the soil but the seed itself, about man-made seeds. To understand the scope of my thoughts you must first understand what I mean by seeds. The dictionary defines seed as ‘any propagative part of a plant, including tubers, bulbs, etc., especially as preserved for growing a new crop.’ In less scientific speech, the part of a plant that creates reproduction, growth. It reproduces its own kind.

A farmer must know what seed to plant and how to look after it. Putting this into a spiritual, emotional and mental context; we are farmers too. We are farmers in two perspectives;

1. We must know what seeds are or are being planted within us.
2. We must be aware of what seeds we plant within others.

What seeds are inside of us? Doubt, fear, wrath, pain, unforgiveness, bitterness, strength, jealousy, love, hope, strife, dishonesty, loyalty, laziness, joy, lust, etc., the list goes on. There are many different seeds, we are responsible for the seeds that we allow to grow inside of us and their fruit (behaviours, attitudes, etc). These seeds are not originally created by man but they become man made seeds when planted as we have the choice to allow them to grow or uproot them.

Life has a way of producing certain seeds within us through how we respond to our situations and circumstances; however what about seeds we plant in others?

A less attractive but polished way to show this is through the film Alien Resurrection. Alien eggs have been planted inside human beings. Hating to state the obvious, aliens and humans are different species so we know that when the alien hatches that it is not going to be a pretty sight for the human. Likewise, this is also the case in less graphics with when we plant corruptible seeds in others. Just like the alien broke out, so do the wrong seeds when planted in others. The person will take on the nature of that which was planted.

Another visual of this is through Prue from the TV series Charmed. In series 3 episode 6, Prue comes across an innocent who is cursed with feeling all the pain of the world. The innocent is really a demon but Prue being unaware of his true identity helps him. Her spell backfires and she ends up with what he was cursed with. As this was not Prue’s portion, she began to fall because of that which she had taken upon herself.

Prue unable to contain the corruptible seed within

Alien Resurrection and Charmed let us know that there are two different routes in which man made seeds are planted. Alien Resurrection shows that others plant wrong seeds and Charmed shows that through lack of discernment we can take on the wrong seeds, another’s battle that is not ours.

Once a seed has been planted it goes through a process of growth. Either way, corruptible man made seeds bring death.

What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Matthew 15:11 (NIV)

That which is on the inside will eventually manifest on the outside. We must take a long look at ourselves, externally and internally, to see what seeds are inside us. Character and speech will tell us what is on the inside.

Seeds because of their reproductive nature will affect others, whether good or bad. Let us check ourselves today and seek help and change for making sure we do not find ourselves reproducing bad seeds or even taking on bad seeds ourselves.

A Boy Wielding His Sword

Last week a friend of mine got me to play catch-up to BBC2 historical drama  ‘The Last Kingdom‘. Set in the year 872 where the separate kingdoms, now known as England, had fallen to the invading Danes. This had left the great kingdom of Wessex standing alone and defiant. A Saxon man, Uhtred, is captured as a slave and raised by the Danes. He must now choose a side and play his part in the birth of a nation, alongside King Alfred the Great. Please forgive me as my history is a little rough on the edges.

As soon as I saw the opening credits for episode one I automatically wanted to switch it over as it is not my viewing taste but I was caught by a dominant image that has stained my mind and provoked my blog post today.

In the first battle scene as the Danes are conquering, Uhtred who is only aged 10 at the time, picks up his sword and shield to fight. When watching it I cringed and thought to myself “what is he doing?” as I knew he did not stand a chance. He was untrained not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. This young boy was not ready for war or his purpose at this moment in life.

My provoked thought just from this scene was; What are the dangers of a boy nature in a man’s body? Please do not get caught up on the wording of this sentence, gender plays no connotation as I am referring to maturity but figuratively in the visuals of a man and boy.

When soldiers go to war, men are sent. Gideon’s army was narrowed down to 300 men (Judges 7). Intensive training and regimes are undergone when training for war. You are prepared mentally, physically and emotionally in order to face war. You go in a boy and come out a man, as they say. Every part of you is stripped, your boy nature is broken down. It is broken as this immature nature cannot carry you through a war, it will only let you go so far.

Outside of physical war, we all as a people need to be trained. The boy nature within us all exists. The nature that wants no responsibility and little accountability but thinks it is ready for anything. If your boy nature is stronger than your man nature then there is a problem.

Uhtred, even though a slave to the Danes, was eventually taken on as a son by them in the programme and trained to be a fighter. They taught him how to fight strategically and wield his sword. The problem we can have as people are that we let our boy nature wield our lives. Immaturity masks maturity.

The problem with a boy nature is that after it has had its satisfaction met, it leaves behind a mess. The mess can be very damaging not only to the situation it was involved in but also the others involved or around it. It leaves wounds and scars because of the refusal to grow up and deal with a situation properly.

1 Corinthians 13:11 says ‘When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things’ (New Living Translation).

If we stay as a child, we will reap the benefits of a child. We must learn to reign in our boy natures. We cannot let our boy nature control our lives as it will cost us in the long run.

Before a soldier is sent, his training must first be completed and completed to the required standard. We cannot win life with a boy nature, only the growing of maturity will cause us to rise in life.

Think about your life and where you can identify this boy nature. Be encouraged to work on changing this nature before this nature completely changes you.

 

Playing Pretend

When I was a little girl I used to love playing ‘pretend’. My imagination would conjure up real life scenarios of which I would act out. This would be anything from being a wife, a mother, a schoolteacher; anything occupying my own land. Each component was totally under my power and control. I was my own scriptwriter, I wrote my own endings. As age outstretched me, I grew up and lost interest in playing my childhood ‘pretend’ games.

The definition for the word pretend is to make believe, to appear falsely or as to deceive. It is not real, it may feel and appear real but in reality there is no definitive line. The edges are blurred and what you think you see is nothing but a warped perception of a very real reality.

My question to us today is,

Do you play pretend in your life?

Life has taught me that children are not the only ones with imaginary friends but adults have them too. Adults can get caught up in the game. This can be in not wanting to face certain people or situations in our lives, burying deep emotions built up from circumstances we have or may still be going through, or acting as if everything is ok when really it is not. A case of not acknowledging the truth or wanting to accept a truth in our lives.

When I used to play pretend I got to a point where I had to remember that what I was playing was not actually real. There would be times where I got so caught up in a game that when I stepped out of it I felt weird, like a different person. So what am I saying? I am not saying that children cannot use their imaginations to play pretend, but what I am saying is that adults cannot play pretend in life and think that their pretense is real.

My mom would always call me for dinner or I would get bored of playing pretend. Life has a way of waking us up from our sleep. There has to be an acknowledgment of truth in our lives in order for us to stop playing. It becomes dangerous if we continue to accept its invitation to play after a certain age.

Yes there are times when we do not want to face the world or anything in it. Days we just want to hide and shut away. However you cannot let a time or season like this turn into an eternity. Facing your own pretense is a good thing as it causes you to see what is real and allows you to move on.

We all need to move on and learn how to handle situations we encounter. Letting go of what was and moving towards what can be. Being held in your past or present is no good thing, being set free from your past and making the right decisions in your present can make way for a better future.

Wise counsel, guidance, advice and true genuine relationships are needed but we must accept truth. Without truth we can live in a world of make believe, deceiving ourselves to the reality of our lives and who we are.