Admonishment

One of the responsibilities Christians have for each other is admonition. That’s a Bible word for correcting improper or sinful behavior. It is really an act of love. Its purpose is to help keep each other on the straight and narrow so we can all go to Heaven.

But it’s a ticklish subject. I mean who likes to be corrected by others… right? Done properly it can have great results but done improperly it can be a disaster. So it needs to be thought out and prayed about.

First of all I think you have to earn the right to admonish someone else. In my opinion that means you have to have some type of positive relationship with the person. They need to know you care about them and have their best interests at heart.

I might need to admonish someone I barely know but its better coming from someone else who has “earned” the right. I have seen folks who needed to be admonished and have identified someone who was close to that person and asked them to do help out. It turned out well.

Admonishment is a bit of an art as well. Consider the case of Nathan and David. David needed to be admonished but he was a King and usually people in power aren’t great at taking advice. Nathan devised a story about a great villain and waited for David’s reaction and then Nathan told David that he was the villain. David had judged himself.

If you could pick anyone in your home congregation to admonish you who would it be? For me it would be an older person who has a humble disposition, someone who is reticent about things like that. Not someone who took joy or smug satisfaction in the process. Someone like my mother maybe.

Failure to admonish others is really selfish and unloving. It’s like first aid for a bleeding wound… it needs to be bandaged. Don’t just watch someone “bleeding out” and fail to act. Step up… you might just save someone and yourself along the way.