Issue 18 - Day 5

2 Corinthians 7

2 Corinthians 7:8-10
8)  For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
9)  Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10)  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

What is your reaction to criticism? Most of us struggle with criticism, and will tend to retaliate unthinkingly, even when we know we are in the wrong. If there are any verses that back up Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians being a telling of, this is it, though there are others also. He rebuked them for their behaviour and they changed as a result.

Two school friends of totally equal ability failed to do their homework on time. When the teacher held them back after class and gave them an earful, and a detention they both went away sad, they would miss the football match for starters. Mervyn, thought about what the teacher had said, worked hard from then on, and having got good grades went on to University and ended up governor of the Bank of England. Brian, on the other hand, also thought about what the teacher had said and resolved never to do any work for that ungrateful … ever again. Who did he think he was anyway! So he failed the class, it affected his work in other classes, eventually leading to him leaving school at 16 with few qualifications to go and stack shelves in the local supermarket. He recently emigrated to Australia.
Attitude to criticism is the difference between success and failure. When God disciplines you, what is your reaction?