2025.12.07 | The Hard Gift of Correction: Why Humility Is the Key to Freedom

You know that feeling when you realize you’ve messed up, but before you can even apologize, your defenses go up like a fortress? That’s where I live sometimes. I want to be a good wife, a patient parent, and a kind friend, but my flaws don’t disappear just because I accepted Jesus.

This past Sunday’s sermon in Matthew 18:15–20 hit me right where I was resisting: the call to listen when corrected. It directly confronted the shame I carry, assuring me that God is utterly devoted to protecting my value.

The most recent, painful reminder for me came from my husband. Like most men, he prefers peace over conflict and rarely confronts things. I had been consistently sacrificing sleep… staying up late for "just one more episode" or catching up on work emails I thought were urgent. This meant I was perpetually exhausted, irritable, and short-tempered with the family. One morning, he came to me, not in anger, but with quiet concern, and said, "I love you, but when you trade sleep for movies, you're trading peace for exhaustion. Your choices are robbing you of patience and robbing us of your best self."

My first reaction was pure, hot defensiveness. I wanted to protect my right to manage my own time. I felt my pride swell, ready to list all the reasons my choices were necessary.
This message from Sunday is a reminder to me that Jesus isn't looking for our justifications; He's looking for our humility. Jesus demands that we stop running, stop explaining, and simply listen. I appreciated my husband's courage because I knew he had to set aside his own desire for peace to approach me. His correction wasn't an attack on my freedom; it was a gift of pursuit.

He was loving me enough to risk confrontation, following Jesus's 1-on-1 command. He honored the process.

It took swallowing a massive dose of pride to stop talking and just say, "You're right. I apologize. I've been prioritizing comfort over health."

The process of repentance is hard. It means stopping the defensiveness and committing to a new behavior (setting a firm cut-off time for screens). The amazing reward? When I finally listened and repented, the tension crumbled. We didn't gain a win in the argument; we gained a deeper, more reconciled relationship. We gained a sister back, fulfilling the ultimate, hopeful goal of the passage.

If a brother or sister (or your spouse!) has lovingly approached you, remember the enormous courage it took for them to follow Matthew 18. Their correction is not a weapon; it’s a loving tool to free you from the isolation of sin. Our job is to listen, repent, and receive the freedom that comes with humility.

If you want to hear the full message and understand why humility is the key to reconciliation, you can watch the full sermon on YouTube.