Those Who I Love, I Rebuke

14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." -Revelations 3:14-22

As I've currently been giving countless hours to a study on direct/indirect discourse styles in Composition Class Peer Review Sessions, I can't help but relate this passage to those findings. While the study itself exists because there is variation, the interesting thing is how resist many people are to giving negative feedback. I have one student who said nothing but positive comments over the course of the whole Peer Review session. And his partner's paper was a C+ (although I might've given a B- as a gift), there was certainly room for correction!

My professor Norma Mendoza Denton (who wrote an AMAZING book about girl gang culture) was recently telling us about the importance of having an advisor who is willing to give honest feedback. They need to be able to tell you when something needs to be fixed.

Well, we all have the very best advisor and wonderful counselor in Jesus. He knows what we need, and he's never distant. He stands at the door and kncoks. And best of all, his rebuke comes out of love.