What does love look like? It looks like a lot of things, but it most certainly sometimes looks like correction. Correction is a manifestation of love. Those whom you love, you discipline. No, it’s not enjoyable, but it’s necessary.

Here in 2 Thessalonans 3:14 and 15, Apostle Paul gives instruction for Christians on how to handle the fellow believer who persistently refuses to obey the Bible. The idea that we as brothers and sisters in Christ should hold one another accountable at all is distasteful to most modern sensibilities. But what really shocks our contemporary mindset is what the Holy Spirit prescribes through Paul to handle the situation.

The Holy Spirit here calls us to cause the person to feel ashamed. And how does He say to do that? By standing up and blasting them privately or publicly? No, that’s not the prescription at all. He says to cause them to feel ashamed by no longer associating with them. In other words, have nothing to do with them any longer. Withdraw fellowship and friendship from them.

This is not cruelty—it’s accountability. The goal is not punishment, but restoration. You don’t treat as an enemy. You warn him as a brother.The distancing here is meant to awaken the person’s conscience. The separation is meant to sting and create godly sorrow so that they are led to repentance. Even in correction, the heart of Christian love must remain. So, the goal is not to drive the person away permanently, but to draw them back with truth and grace.

You might say, that sounds so mean. Well, I would say to you that sounds biblical, and the Bible’s ways are always most loving. Fools judge the Bible. The wise follow it. Which one will you be as you strive to help your erring brother or sister?

Change begins in you!