Open Rebuke

I was offered rebuke at the close of one of our recent meetings. None of us enjoy being corrected, and it certainly behoves pastors to be put right when they err. We had a couple of visitors, and upon their departure, I bade them well and said “take care”. It was dark outside, and wet. Additional caution is needed when leaving our premises, for there is no street lighting and the path is sloped. Quick as a flash, one turned round and told me it was a godless expression: scripture tells us to ‘be careful for nothing’ (Philippians 4:6-8); furthermore, the believer is enjoined to ‘cast all your care upon him (God); for he careth for you.’ (1 Peter 5:7)

I had to think quickly. Was this a helpful correction? Had I been speaking flippantly of something God forbids? A wise man benefits from correction; a fool is quick to take offence. Or, was this rebuke borne from my friend’s own pride: an opportunity seized to flex his spiritual muscle in front of the regulars, a way of demonstrating his superior wisdom to that of a thoughtless pastor?

Rightly or wrongly, I took the latter approach, and suggested he stop being so silly. Although care (worry) is inappropriate for God’s people, the act of being careful is our duty. Furthermore, as an AV-Only man, he can see for himself several occasions when ‘care’ is not used in a pejorative, sinful sense. In 2 Corinthians 8:16, for example, we read:

But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

And a few chapters later in 2:11:28:

Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Only a few verses later on from Paul’s words quoted to me in Philippians, we read:

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. (4:10)

Taking care leaving a dark chapel is not the same as mistrusting God. Perhaps I should have enquired if my friend locks his door at night or wears a seatbelt, or whether these two habits indicate a sinful self-sufficiency. It is certainly wrong to worry; it is not wrong to show care and take care. It is not wrong to rebuke a pastor, but it is important to do so on a matter that is valid and actually important. My friend took my own rebuke seemingly well. I pray that, next time, when someone identifies a genuine failing, I have as much grace.

Open rebuke is better than secret love. Proverbs 27:5