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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : Sensitiveness under reproof ~ Fenelon

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crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Sensitiveness under reproof ~ Fenelon

[b]Sensitiveness under reproof the surest sign we needed it[/b].


I greatly desire that you may have interior peace. You know that it cannot be found, except in lowliness of mind, and lowliness is not real, except it be produced by God upon every proper occasion. These occasions are chiefly when we are blamed by someone who disapproves of us, and when we experience inward weakness. We must accustom ourselves to bearing both these trials.

We are truly lowly when we are no longer taken by surprise at finding ourselves corrected from without and incorrigible within. We are then like little children, below everything, and are willing to be so; we feel that our reprovers are right, but that we are unable to overcome ourselves, in order to correct our faults. Then we despair of ourselves, and expect nothing except from God; the reproofs of others, harsh and unfeeling as they may be, seem to us less than we deserve; if we cannot bear them, we condemn our sensitiveness more than all our other imperfections. Correction cannot then make us more humble than it finds us. The interior rebellion, far from hindering the profit of the correction, convinces us of its absolute necessity; in truth, the reproof would not have been felt, if it had not cut into some living part; had death been there, we should not have perceived it; and thus the more acutely we feel, the more certainly we know that the correction was necessary.

I beg your forgiveness if I have said anything too harsh; but do not doubt my affection for you, and count as nothing everything that comes from me. See only the hand of God, which makes use of the awkwardness of mine, to deal you a painful blow. The pain proves that I have touched a sore spot. Yield to God, acquiesce in all his dealings, and you will soon be at rest and in harmony within. You know well enough how to give this advice to others; the occasion is important, critical. O what grace will descend upon you, if you will bear, like a little child, all the means God employs to humiliate and dispossess you of your senses and will! I pray that he may so diminish you that you can no longer be found at all.


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Mike Balog

 2007/2/11 0:34Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Sensitiveness under reproof ~ Fenelon

Quote:
I pray that he may so diminish you that you can no longer be found at all.


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Mike Balog

 2008/4/9 9:22Profile









 Re: Sensitiveness under reproof ~ Fenelon

Quote:

crsschk wrote:
Correction cannot then make us more humble than it finds us. The interior rebellion, far from hindering the profit of the correction, convinces us of its absolute necessity; in truth, the reproof would not have been felt, if it had not cut into some living part; had death been there, we should not have perceived it; and thus the more acutely we feel, the more certainly we know that the correction was necessary.




Wow, this is an excellent piece by Fenelon. Thank you for sharing it.

"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities." Psalm 141:5


"Lord, put it into the heart of the righteous to smite me and reprove me. If my own heart does not smite me, as it ought, let my friend do it; let me never fall under that dreadful judgment of being let alone in sin." - Matthew Henry


 2008/4/9 11:22
Corneliu
Member



Joined: 2004/1/6
Posts: 61


 Re: Sensitiveness under reproof ~ Fenelon

I would like to add this easier to read translation:

Quote:
Sensitivity to Reproof is the Surest Sign We Needed It

I certainly want you to have inner peace. But I think you know that this peace does not exist, except for the humble. And there is no real humility unless it is produced by God in every situation. This is especially true in those situations when we are blamed for something by someone who disapproves of us, and when we realize our inner weaknesses. But we might as well get used to both of these trials, for they are tests which we will face again and again.

It is a good sign of real, God-produced humility when we are no longer shocked by the correction of others, nor by the resistance within. Like little children, we know very well that those correcting us are right, but we also humbly acknowledge the fact that we cannot, by ourselves, make the necessary corrections. We know what we are, and we have no hope of becoming any better except through the mercy of God. The reproofs of others, harsh and unfeeling as they may be, seem to be less than we really deserve. If we find ourselves rebelling and getting irritable, we should understand that this irritability under correction is worse than all our other faults put together. And we know that correction is not going to make us any more humble than it finds us. If we have inner resentment at being corrected that just shows how deeply correction is needed. In fact, the sting of correction wouldn’t be felt at all if the old self were dead. So the more correction hurts, the more we see how necessary it is.

Francois de Salignac de La Mothe Fenelon, Let Go, pp. 48-49.



http://heartsoulandmight.com/category/fenelon/


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Cornelius

 2008/4/9 11:45Profile
destinysweet
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Joined: 2007/11/19
Posts: 159


 Re:

Thank you for the both of these versions..great reminder!


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G.M. (Destiny) Sweet

 2008/4/10 19:22Profile





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