Psalm 141:5 says, “Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; it shall be as excellent oil; let my head not refuse it.” Many times as Christians we have higher expectations of other believers, and to some degree that is legitimate. They should be under the control of God’s Spirit like we are supposed to be. So when a Christian friend offers a word of rebuke or correction, we display our lack of the Spirit’s control if we reject such words because they hurt, and we immediately defend ourselves and/or get angry. Do we see such words as “excellent oil,” as a gift that we “refuse”? Poor us if we do! “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6).