When living your life, you are bound to run across troubles. Sometimes the reason why is obvious -- you made a mistake, someone else has bad character, or just bad luck. Other times, you ask why thousands of times over but the answer never comes. Why am I so bad at school? Why do I have bad luck? Why are people always fighting with me? At some point, the problem itself stops being such a big deal. Instead, the real problem becomes the fact you don't know the how to solve the problem. If you found the answer, you would fix it right away. Wouldn't you?
But the answer is not always so easy to swallow. Like bitter herbs, you just can't even stand the thought of eating them, but you know it's good for you. In some cases, your very life depends on eating the answer until the plate is completely clean.
What I am talking about, is rebuke. It's very bitter sometimes, but it's eternally valuable. However, people tend to really dislike rebuke to the point they'll do anything just so they won't hear it. Not venturing into the kitchen so that the big pile of dishes glare at you and with harsh rebuke say, "Clean. Me." Never praying so that you won't have to face your conscience screaming out to you, "Please! Clean me!" Everyone has their tried-and-true method. I have my own too.
Just this morning I got up to pray and afterwards I decided a short nap was in order because I thought, "Hey, there's nothing I really have to be doing right now." So I took my nap and later I read some mentoring advice that this Pastor wrote. He writes some every day in the form of short proverbs as he realizes them in the course of his own life. It said, "Depending on whether you sleep at predawn once more or once less, the fate of the predawn hours is determined, and even the fate of your life is destined."
It struck me right in the heart. It was a bitter cup, but I drank it wholeheartedly with a short "amen" that I whispered under my breath. The advice turned out to be true. Because I took a nap I actually did not get to finish everything I wanted to today. I realized that my youth, like this day, would just slip by me unnoticed if I lived with that kind of mentality and made the adjustment. It was the answer to my problem of 'having enough time.'
When I thought about the Bible I realized that it seems that people that cannot take rebuke pay with their life. King Saul, King Ahab, Judas Iscariot, and even Cain. If they simply took what was good for them -- like eating bitter food -- they would have turned out just fine. But since they chose to bear the pain of ignorance instead of putting in the effort to have the proper mentality, they ultimately paid the price.
Nowadays, rebuke can be as rare as seeing Halley's Comet. Generally if a person rebukes someone, even if it's done properly, it's common to just recite the verse in the New Testament saying that one should 'take the log out of your own eye' first. The verse says that, but it does not say to refrain from rebuking other people. It says to repent first so a person can rebuke properly. If a person fails to remove the log, the rebuke has no power or they might end up rebuking out of ignorance.
I'm not saying that people need to go around looking for opportunities to rebuke. I'm saying that there are times that it's necessary and extremely helpful if done properly. It has to be done with love. It has to be done in a way that people can save face. Then people will realize what they've done wrong and fix it. For example, if a person rebukes someone who knows better and knows they've done wrong, they just get embarrassed. Or if a person rebukes someone who is very young in faith, they just feel bad rather than want to fix themselves. Therefore, it has to be done with wisdom. When it's done properly, it becomes truly 'saving grace.'
