Discipline and Knowledge
No one that I’m aware of enjoys discipline. From the shame of feeling that you were wrong to the work that it takes to clean it up, it is not a pleasant experience. Perhaps that’s why our reflex to being corrected is usually defensiveness and justification.
I mean, it can’t be that we were wrong in what we did, it must be someone else’s fault.
This response is as natural to us as breathing– it’s the reaction that Adam and Eve had to being caught eating the fruit and then hiding from God. Whatever is in our best interests (or we think is in our best interests) we do.
Solomon challenges us to think differently:
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
Proverbs 12:1
but one who hates correction is stupid.
Basically, we should welcome the chance to be corrected.
First, it shows that someone actually cares enough about what we’re doing or who we are to invest the time to make what we’re doing correct. I’m sure that many of us have been on projects or things that are throw-away work, that isn’t going to last. If not in your professional life, then in college where you were doing things for a grade that no one was actually going to use. If someone’s correcting your work, that means that it matters in some way.
Second, it shows a humble spirit and a desire to do things right instead of doing them the easiest way that they can to get by. If we care about our work and what we do, we should want to hear someone express the right way to do it and want to get better at it. We should want to hear a way we can improve and how we can live our lives better– or do a better job at the activity.
So the next time you find yourself being disciplined or corrected, lean into it. Not shame or pity, but actually try to learn what you did wrong or not to your best effort and seek to do better the next time. Not only will you grow, but respect for you should grow as well.
Hating correction is stupid.
