Winter had set in substantially in the United States of America when my wife and I visited New York last December. The conventional greeting from people was, “Keep warm.” So I shopped for some wears to fight the cold. One of the items that I bought was a hood that could keep my head and ears from frostbite. Unfortunately, I wore it wrongly; putting the back for front. That lasted for about two days before a brother-in-law corrected me. It was then I began to recollect how people had stared at me strangely since I started wearing it. Most people saw the error, but only one man picked the courage to address it.
Don’t shy away from correcting people; only let it be done in love.
It takes courage to correct people. Often times, we neglect the solemn duty of correcting people for fear of backlash. We are not sure whether our correction will be received favourably or not. So we prefer to keep a safe distance. What we must never forget is that pointing out people’s mistakes may save them from danger. Moses was going to wear himself out attending to the people of Israel. It took his father-in-law to point out his mistake. Moses received counsel to choose deputies who would handle petty administrative issues so that he can channel his energy to greater causes. Don’t shy away from correcting people; only let it be done in love.
