John 16:8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Carol, myself, and our 18 month old baby boy were sitting at the table enjoying one of my wife’s wonderful meals, when it happened. Our son, in his first fit of rebellion, spewed green peas all over our kitchen as he spit them out of his mouth. Not only did he spit them out, but he yelled at his Mother as he was doing it a word I will never forget; NO!! We were so shocked at his outburst that it took me a second to realize that this was a teachable moment, and I was the teacher. Of course, I had to correct him so he would know that this was not acceptable behavior. It was in that moment that those famous words became reality to me; “this is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you”. I soon learned that correcting my children was going to be a painful but necessary task that I would have to perform on many occasions. Without correction, my now grown son would be spewing vegetables all over restaurants everywhere. Seriously, without correction we would be a lawless society. This is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit; to correct us. I’m sure it pains Him to do it, but without it we’re lost.  Our role in the correction process is to submit to His loving rebuke and allow Him to mold us into the image of Christ. Correction isn’t much fun, but it is necessary. May we all listen for the loving rebuke of the Holy Spirit and submit to His teaching is my prayer.

Keeping it Real,

Pastor Crowson