THINK TOGETHER.
Are you stubborn?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 29:1. He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
In the Old Testament the Israelites were often called stiff-necked by God.
Exodus 32:9. And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
To be stiff-necked means that you are stubborn. Our proverb describes someone who is stiff-necked when they are reproved or corrected. Maybe when mom and dad tell him what to do he scowls and complains, and stomps off. Maybe when the teacher corrects her behavior at school she blames others, tattle-tales, and then complains about the teacher on playground. Both of these kids are stiff-necked.
Are you stiff-necked? How do you respond to correction? What do you do when you get in trouble for something?
The opposite of stiff-necked is humble. Someone who is humble receives reproof and correction as a gift from God. Of course, nobody like to get in trouble, but when we do something wrong and someone that loves us tells us what we did wrong, and what to do right, well that is the love of God for you.
Stubbornness comes with a strong warning – suddenly broken beyond healing. When we are consistently stubborn against God, if we reject him and his Son, Jesus, eventually it will be too late to be healed by his love. And on a smaller scale our stubbornness can break our relationships with others too. Yikes.
How can we overcome our stiff-necked stubbornness? We have to let Jesus soften our hearts with his love. When we know that he loves us no matter what, then we don’t have to defend ourselves and stand up for ourselves when we are in trouble. We know that the reproof from people we love is HOW Jesus loves us.
Because of Jesus we can have a soft heart instead of a stiff neck.
With Jesus we can receive reproof as his love for us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Evan Almighty is a family friendly film that teaches about stubbornness. Evan is too stubborn to build the ark, but God keeps reproving him.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, I don’t want to be stubborn. Soften my heart with your love. Amen.
TLICfamily 