READ: Proverbs 9:7-9
He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself.
Proverbs 9:7 (NASB 1995)
I have been dishonoured many times by people I rebuked and corrected. In the course of raising up thousands of pastors and being a spiritual father to many, you would expect there would be some corrections and some rebukes.
Most of the people I have corrected have taken it well. But indeed some of them rose up strongly to insult me and to dishonour me. I was called “Satan” by someone when I corrected him. When pride fills a person, he is easily offended. A swollen toad is more easily pricked or stepped on than a small one. A puffed up balloon is easier to burst and be destroyed. When people are proud and swollen the slightest prick causes an explosion.
Inflated pastors have an illusion and a delusion of how big they really are. Sometimes they have had opportunities that have swelled up their minds. Many successful people are actually the products of many other people’s input. Pride blinds you to the things that others have done to make you what you are.
Many successful people are actually the products of a set of circumstances that have come together in perfect timing to make you look successful. This is what someone would call grace or luck.
Your greatness is merely an act of grace, mercy and love from God. Rising up, in great confidence about who you are and what you can do, is a sign that you are deceived about who you really are. Such proud people are easy to offend.
When a man can rebuke, insult and degrade his own father, he is indeed proud and too big to remain under his father. A father’s rebuke can cause a proud person to insult him and to break God’s eternal and sacred commandments of honouring fathers.