How Do You Handle The Critics In Your Life?

Posted by Unknown | Labels: Devotions

Photo Credit~ H.Bell~ My Gypsy Girl

1 Peter 3:8-9

King James Version (KJV)

⁸Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
⁹Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

I really dislike critics~ and I dislike it when I see it in me the most. Somehow we seem to have a lot within the walls of our own church families~ shame on us! I hear those that think I am too strict and then I get criticized by those that don't think I have my standards raised enough. Oh Ladies and Men ~if you are there~ I wonder how many people have slipped into the gates of Hell over critical Christians?

When I catch myself wanting to nit-pick my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ I have asked the Lord to make me sick~ literally sick. I don't want to to be a critical person. We will all one day spend eternity in Heaven together. It is none of my business what someone wears~ nor how they are raising their children. When we have a critical spirit it is just as wrong as the person who is not living up to whatever mark I have set in my life! I catch myself when I am criticized wanting to strike back~ that is sin and I have to go to God and confess it. I have a feeling that devouring each other with our tongue has caused more people to turn from God than our our do's and don'ts.

If you are like me and want to strike back when criticized then take a moment to learn with me this morning~Colonial Preacher Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) had it figured out!

Regarded by scholars as an insightful philosopher, Edwards was vindictively attacked by the ruling body of his church in Northampton, Massachusetts. They felt he was wrong to teach that a person needed to be born again before taking part in the Lord’s Supper.

Although he was dismissed from his church, Edwards still maintained a loving and forgiving attitude. One supportive member wrote of him, “I never saw the least symptoms of displeasure in his countenance . . . , but he appeared like a man of God, whose happiness was out of the reach of his enemies.”

Edwards was simply copying the example of the Lord Jesus. When the Savior was insulted, He did not repay with an insult. When He was falsely denounced, He remained silent, “as a sheep before its shearers is silent” (Isa. 53:7).

So the next time I am tempted to criticize I need to remember ~ I am a sinner saved by grace. It is so funny to listen to young parents who think they have it all figured out~ yet you can see so many areas where they are already doing some damage. Let me tell you the older I get the more I realize I don't have anything figured out. I have enough to do trying to keep myself right with God. I need God every second~ every moment and every hour of the day. I am nothing without Him. As a Father I think He may get really mad when we pick on His children. We best be careful criticizing one another!!!

Do you have inner peace when criticized? Not usually~ I feel hot rocks churning in my stomach! We can ask the Holy Spirit for His help ~just as Edwards did~ responding in a Christlike way to accusations and gossip.

The morale of the story~ Edwards is in Heaven today with all his accusers ~ I bet they are one big happy family! Enough Said!