To correct a person is to...
love the person
If you say you love but do not correct, then do you love? If you say you believe in love and love conquers all, but do not teach truth, then do you still love?
Love is great, and it is necessary in life and for life. However, if you claim to love but let people blindly live in a destructive manner, then you do not love. To have true love one must also be truthful and correct those you love when they do wrong or live in a wrong or hurtful manner.
2 Timothy 4:2 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
Proverbs 12:1 1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.
A person who is good and seeks goodness and seeks after God wants to be corrected. But a person who will not listen to or accept correction is not a person who wants to live right and is not seeking after God. We must always be ready to be corrected and to correct others, this is true love. This is what God wants for us.
Like a parent corrects a child because they love their child, so must friends and family correct those they love. If we do not do so, then we do not love.
I see often that people are willing to accept sin in people because they feel that the way they live is OK, that they accept the person. However, they fail to realize that they can accept the person but not the sin. They have been brainwashed to some degree by people in sinful lifestyles to believe that if they do not accept their lifestyle then they are haters or not accepting of the person. We can do both, love the person and hate the sin.
Love is important and we are commanded to love, but never forget that correction is a part of this. These two things go together. How can we say that we love all people if we let them live in sin?
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Ask yourself this: “Do you love, or do you hate?” if you love, then correct the ones who live sinfully, if you hate, then you will not correct them but then you also hate God. If you hate God, then what hope do you have?
Show your family and friends that you love them, correct them, lead them unto the straight path, teach them the truth, their salvation and eternity is at stake.
Galatians 6:1
6 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
