None of us like being corrected. We don’t always like listening to other people’s advice. But the Bible says that people who listen to the advice of others are wiser than those who don’t. ‘Fools think they are doing right, but the wise listen to advice’ (Proverbs 12:15 NCV). We must weigh up the advice of others as some people will try and offer us advice that won’t help us. We need to be praying about whether their advice is something we need to take on board, and check things against what the Bible says. We don’t just need to be listening to others, we also need to be listening to God. God’s wisdom is far greater than ours, so we should always be asking His advice on all our decisions. He also disciplines us. In Hebrews 12 it says: ‘God disciplines us to help us, so we can become holy as he is. We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way’ (vv.10-11 NCV). When we don’t listen to God’s advice or discipline, we can end up in a bad state. Proverbs 29:1 says that we will be ‘hurt beyond cure’. That seems pretty scary, but the word ‘hurt’ is better translated as ‘destroyed’ or ‘shattered’. It basically means we’ll end up in ruin. But, there’s good news for us. When we find ourselves in that state, we can be restored. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we now have hope. Our mistakes don’t result in our end. When we confess where we’ve gone wrong, Jesus can put our broken lives back together again.

What Now?

Ask God to show you any areas of your life where you need to work on something. Then try and think of something you can do to start changing that part of your life.