He that rebuketh a man

Pro 28:23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.

Good morning friends, and teenagers if you happen to have started reading this. Well this week in Sunday School we almost completed Philippians Chapter 1 with a few different thoughts to go on. We see from Chapter 1 that it showed Christ as the purpose of life, and that Paul had a single focused mind in preaching the gospel no matter the circumstance. We also learned of how Paul was able to be a steadfast testimony even while in bonds in the prison with the elite Roman soldiers guarding him. We've had the opportunity to learn this past week of the following:

1. Paul's Chains
2. Paul's Critics
3. Paul's Crises

All this can be found in verses 13-26, where we will close out chapter 1 with verses 27-30 this Sunday. Teenagers if you will be reading the last few verses in Chapter 1 and prepared to discuss them it would be an encouragement not only to me, but the others around you. Now when I was reading my daily Proverb, it struck me to write on the above verse for this morning. We see in America today that there is enough flattery going on, and no correction in peoples lives. This doesn't give you however a license to run around and destroy people with the tongue. When you are talking in everyday conversation and somebody says something that is not correct according to the Word of God, then it would be wiser to correct that person in love, rather than agree with them, or to build them up in their own conceit. A lot of times this is done at the schoolhouse to gain acceptance, or at the work place to gain support for that new promotion. According to the Word of God however it is better to correct that person up front then let that person be rebuked later by somebody else and made a fool. The person that you are rebuking will probably take it pretty harsh up front, however if they are a Christian, they will see why you said what you said after much prayer and then come and thank you for it. In today's society of "peace and harmony" it is very rare to find a person that rebukes out of love, even in a lot of peoples rebuking nowadays it is to prove that they are better, smarter, quicker than somebody else. Don't let this be your intention Christian, instead let your words be seasoned with grace, for the encouragement of others to turn from ignorance and idleness, and glorify God through your actions. The challenge today then is to not flatter, but to lovingly be a leader according to the Word of God, by rebuking with gentleness for the purpose of instruction and guidance, rather than a haughty spirit of you know more than them just to prove a point.