A response to rebuke

Last week I wrote about a former inmate who seemed to be slipping into a Satanic snare of the common variety. I would like to report that he received my letter of exhortation (which was not dissimilar from my little column on the subject) and he responded as well as anyone could hope. He texted me and said, “Thank you 4 what U said I needed that I got back on track we need 2 talk.”

He also left a voice mail when I didn’t see his text for a few hours, and then he phoned. That is to say, this was not a person trying to blow me off and continue to do as he pleased.

It is good and right to give thanks for a soul that responds to rebuke. First of all, it is not only the fair thing to do for the recipient of the rebuke, but it is also profitable for the brethren at large to hear a report. We all need to be reminded that not everyone who is admonished will reject the admonishment! That may seem funny to say, or obvious, but as a matter of fact we do not always expect the best of one another, and we go in loaded for bear and bracing for pushback. But I believe this optimism about the outcome of our speaking into the brethren’s lives is one of the meanings of God’s description of love.

“Love … believes all things, hopes all things …” (1 Corinthians 13:7, ESV).

No Pollyannaish naïveté here but the reasonable hope that a fellow human being indwelled by the Holy Spirit can be appealed to, and can be moved by the Spirit to do the right thing. Jesus said, in the course of instructions on the frictions that may occur in Christian relationships:

“… If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” (Matthew 18:15, ESV).

For some reason, we tend to be much more focused on the following verses, the ones talking about a brother refusing to listen. But there is no immediate reason to expect that. It is just as important to remember that there is no reason to be that way ourselves: When the shoe is on the other foot and we are slipping, we too should be prepared, as a normal policy, to respond to rebuke graciously. Godly exhortation should be the everyday Holy Spirit unction that oils the wheel of Christian social intercourse.

So raised glasses and cheers are in order for a man who nearly stumbled and got up again. And in heaven the angels rejoice.