A brother in Christ corrected me the other day, admonishing me with Proverbs 26:17 after I'd brought up my thoughts on a conversation he'd had with another brother.

My first reaction was prideful; "I know I'm right. I was admonishing him. How dare he turn it back to me. Man, this guy is full of himself."

Then I thought about it some more, a little later on; "Ok, maybe he had a point. I'm still sure I'm right somewhere though. He's not 100% right."

God hasn't let it drop, however. I caught myself doing almost EXACTLY the same thing with someone else just a day later!

It's extremly interesting to me how God paused the second conversation just as I got started. He cut the call for just a couple of minutes immediately after I nailed my coffin on the subject.

That pause made me realize what I was doing and how dead on the earlier rebuke was. Praise God!

The result was that I immediately repented, called back, confessed what I found myself doing and apologized.

I wish I could take it all back but I can't. I also called and apologized to my other brother in Christ (involved in the second incident I began discussing) for butting in where I had no business, even though he had no idea what I'd done. (I hope that's not too confusing to follow.)

I say all this by no means to pat myself on the back. For from it, I'm ashamed of myself.

I say all this because I've just been reading Colossians and got so jazzed that I had to post the understanding that I've gained from it all.

Check it out:
Paul says in Col 2:2,3 that it's our goal to attain ALL of the wealth in Christ.

Basically, there is an account with an unlimited balance. We have full access to it, when we learn and know and live according to the truth of the Gospel; that is, Christ.

The funds in that account allow us to live in complete freedom, totally debt free; Everything always paid in full.

While engaged in my sin of meddling in other peoples affairs, I voluntarily cut off my access to that account and immediately began accumulating debt, as it were. I'm not saying that my salvation was in jeopardy, mind you, just that I was becoming a slave to sin once more, after having been so graciously freed from it.

By admonishing me and helping to free me from my sinful behavior, dwelling in dishonest behavior as opposed to dwelling in the truth, my brother did the equavalent of handing me a HUGE sum of gold in which to pay off the debt that I'd been accumulating.

He wasn't giving me the back of his hand, he was handing me his wallet!

I'm even more humbled now.

I thank the Lord for brothers and sisters in Christ that are willing to stand bold in his Word and admonish on Love.