“By all this we are encouraged.
In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.”
2 Corinthians 7:13 (NIV)
Paul had been hard on the Corinthians because he loved them.
This chapter has much to teach us about true repentance versus false repentance, and yet this chapter is all about an apostle who rebuked a congregation out of a deep love for them. You see this love revealed in the encouragement he received from Titus’s report that the Corinthian congregation was deeply concerned for Paul’s well being. Paul did not want their relationship broken, he wanted it deepened. Our tendency is to not appreciate rebuke from our spiritual leaders, our first instinct tends to be rejection, and yet the bible speaks of leaders who loved their people so much that they rebuked them, even gave them a hard time, prodding and testing, all for the good of the people. Moses, Joshua, Joseph, Nathan, Ezra, Nehemiah, our Lord Jesus, and Paul knew the importance that rebuke plays in the corporate life of the people of God.
Do we know the importance of doing the hard work of receiving a rebuke?
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