“Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.”

This is one of the most frightening passages in Scripture. The idea that continued willful sin reaches a point of destruction should not be surprising, yet it is. We believe in a forgiving God. And He is. We believe in a redeeming God. And He is. We believe that a God who requires “seventy times seven” from His followers certainly practices that as a minimum. And He does. So where is the disconnect? In this verse, Solomon is telling us that ignoring the counsel and rebuke of the godly voices God has placed in our lives is a very dangerous and costly way to live. These people are a great gift, and to ignore them puts us on the road to destruction, irreparably so. The trusted voices of correction that God sends into our story are there to help us grow and mature into the person He intends for us to become. They are part of His process, described in Romans 8, that helps conform us to the image of Christ. We are either moving in that direction or headed for permanent destruction. John tells us in chapter 15 that we are being groomed to bear fruit or we are being cut off to be tossed into the fire. The theology is deep, but it is sufficient to know that resisting His correction leads to an awful outcome. Today, learn and live.#BeTheEdge

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Jesus