Psalms 141:5 “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.”
Loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord are a great blessing when they correct us out of love, for not a single one of us is perfect. When “Apollos” was preaching, but “knowing only the baptism of John”, “Aquila and Priscilla” lovingly “expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly”. And he received their loving correction with grace and became a highly effective Minister of the Lord’s Gospel. When “he was disposed to pass into Achaia” he went with the blessing of the Brethren and “helped them much which had believed through grace: 28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 18:24-28). The loving correction from “the righteous” is a pleasant blessing like a soothing aroma of “an excellent oil”. Furthermore, the correction of “the righteous” is not painful or dreadful or hateful; for, as the Psalmist wrote, it “shall not break my head”. The response to such loving correction is that we return their love by earnestly praying for them “in their calamities” of life. The Psalmist described this loving fellowship this way, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;” (Psalm 133:1-2).