“Well, I don’t see what’s wrong with it. It’s a very common business practice all around us. Standard procedure—more or less!”
We may not see any harm in something—but does that make it right? Much of the wrong in society is carried out by people who are convinced it’s perfectly acceptable.
We justify much by pointing to a little. If others benefit at all, we excuse how much we benefit—and in doing so, we lose sight of what is right.
When you discover that something you are doing is not right, how do you respond to correction?
Consider this Old Testament account.
Times were hard in Jerusalem. Taxes were high, crop yields were low, and the cost of living kept rising. For many, it became a matter of survival. Yet as so often happens, some grew richer while others sank deeper into poverty. The poor became prey to the rich.
Their wealthy relatives saw an opportunity.
“We’ll loan them money, grain, oil, and new wine. We’ll profit from the interest. There’s nothing wrong with a good business deal—that’s just smart business.”
Meanwhile, their poorer relatives were starving—some even selling their children just to survive. The burden only worsened under the crushing weight of accumulating interest.
When Governor Nehemiah arrived from Babylon, he was appalled. How could anyone think it was acceptable to profit at the expense of their own people in such desperate conditions?
Nehemiah called a public meeting of the wealthy. Where they parked their glistening chariots, we’re not told—but to their credit, they all came to hear him.
His message was direct:
“We are trying to redeem our Jewish brethren from the bondage of surrounding nations, and yet you are forcing your own people into slavery. What you are doing is a disgrace. It dishonours God and gives our enemies reason to mock us.”
Here is a portion of Nehemiah’s corrective appeal:
So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good.
Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Let us abandon this exacting of interest.
Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses,
and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.”
Nehemiah 5:9–12
The ministry worked.
These wealthy offenders did not dig in their heels or attempt to justify their actions. Once their wrong was exposed, they responded immediately—right there in the meeting. There was no delay, no subsequent closed-door private meeting of the offenders to formulate a group response and no seeking of a second opinion from their financial advisors.
Pride often rises when we are corrected—we don’t like being told we are wrong. Yet Scripture warns, “Pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18), and reminds us that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). These people chose the better path—they humbled themselves.
They repented without delay and agreed to do what was right in the sight of God. In fact, they affirmed it openly: “Amen. Praise the Lord.”
The effectiveness of corrective ministry is often shaped by four things:
- the credibility of the messenger,
- the spirit in which the message is given,
- the biblical truth behind the message, and
- the response of those who hear it.
Scripture teaches that truth is to be spoken in love, with a view to unity, spiritual growth, and the building up of God’s people (Ephesians 4). This was not about winning an argument—it was about restoring what was broken and honouring God before a watching world—just as our Lord prayed, that His people would be one so that the world might believe (John 17).
Nehemiah had credibility. His concern was to honour the Lord and to see his people walk rightly together.
So the searching question remains:
When someone shows me—clearly and biblically—that something in my life is not right…
How do I respond?
