Watch Your Mouth
I'm a person who has an odd combination of reactions when it comes to criticism. Half of me is grossly over sensitive to what people think about me, and I'll constantly worry about whether I've offended them somehow or have done something wrong. However, the other half of me is confident in the face of criticism... when I know that my motives in a situation were pure, at least.
The thing with criticism is that a lot of receiving it or doling it out comes down to motives. Sometimes people will criticize you or critique you or try to get you to change something about yourself for a completely incorrect motive; sometimes this motive is that they're just controlling, or that they're putting a personal preference onto you, or that they're viewing the situation from the lens of a broken area in their life.
For example, I've had people criticize me for going to a certain worship service where the Holy Spirit moves in powerful ways. There's nothing wrong with this worship service whatsoever, I even checked with my Pastor. However, the people who have disagreed with the service were simply uncomfortable/unfamiliar with the moving of the Holy Spirit, and were criticizing my desire to be in that service through that lens of discomfort. Another example of criticism from the wrong motive would be if God has placed a powerful desire or dream in your heart that you know is from Him, and when you shared that dream with other people, they tore you down or discouraged you. When this happens, I often eventually find out that it was because they didn't have the courage to chase their dream or were unsuccessful in some way. And as the saying goes: hurting people hurt people.
We need to be careful about what we allow people to speak over our lives. The Bible encourages us to "test every spirit," and the word "spirit" in that particular passage can be interchanged with the word "motive." If a person's motives aren't right when they direct us, we need to take those words captive and bring them back to Christ. True heavenly wisdom is impartial, meaning that it is not influenced by the opinions or desires of man. Likewise, true heavenly advice shouldn't be weighed in a certain direction by a person's opinions, but should only be influenced by what the word of God says and what the Holy Spirit lays on our hearts to share. In the same way, we need to test the advice that we're giving other people. If it doesn't come from a place of impartial wisdom and love, or isn't Christ-centered, we shouldn't be speaking it (we also shouldn't rashly be giving advice - we can turn into fools very quickly). So be careful with what you receive, and be careful with what you speak.
In spite of all of this, I'm not in any way encouraging you to disrespect or disobey the authorities in your life. The Bible says that all authority is placed by the Lord, and should be respected. Many times in my life, when my authorities had a different opinion than my own, I would realize pretty quickly that their opinion was correct and mine was incorrect. I'm also not encouraging you to do whatever you want and just blithely cover it over with "well I had the right intention." No. You're responsible for what you do, and God is not pleased when we're careless with others.
Here is what I am encouraging: that you think before you speak and that you think before you receive. There is life in death in our words, and with that power comes more responsibility than we often exercise (Spider-Man has really good life lessons, I know). Do not casually criticize people and tear them down unnecessarily when you do not have the right to do so. Test your motives before you speak, and then test them again. Likewise, when someone is criticizing you, weigh their words before the Lord and make sure that they're something He wants you to receive. The key to all of this? Humility, and a solid relationship with the Lord at all times. If the relationship isn't solid and we drift away, we're opening ourselves up to destroying others and being destroyed. You have to be constantly in communication with God, and be sure that you know something is from Him before you act on it. Furthermore, if pride is coloring our words and reactions, we won't receive criticism or correction that the Lord does want us to receive, and we'll tear people down more readily.
Words are our weapons, so be careful how you're aiming them.
"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly" (Proverbs 15:1-2)
The thing with criticism is that a lot of receiving it or doling it out comes down to motives. Sometimes people will criticize you or critique you or try to get you to change something about yourself for a completely incorrect motive; sometimes this motive is that they're just controlling, or that they're putting a personal preference onto you, or that they're viewing the situation from the lens of a broken area in their life.
For example, I've had people criticize me for going to a certain worship service where the Holy Spirit moves in powerful ways. There's nothing wrong with this worship service whatsoever, I even checked with my Pastor. However, the people who have disagreed with the service were simply uncomfortable/unfamiliar with the moving of the Holy Spirit, and were criticizing my desire to be in that service through that lens of discomfort. Another example of criticism from the wrong motive would be if God has placed a powerful desire or dream in your heart that you know is from Him, and when you shared that dream with other people, they tore you down or discouraged you. When this happens, I often eventually find out that it was because they didn't have the courage to chase their dream or were unsuccessful in some way. And as the saying goes: hurting people hurt people.
We need to be careful about what we allow people to speak over our lives. The Bible encourages us to "test every spirit," and the word "spirit" in that particular passage can be interchanged with the word "motive." If a person's motives aren't right when they direct us, we need to take those words captive and bring them back to Christ. True heavenly wisdom is impartial, meaning that it is not influenced by the opinions or desires of man. Likewise, true heavenly advice shouldn't be weighed in a certain direction by a person's opinions, but should only be influenced by what the word of God says and what the Holy Spirit lays on our hearts to share. In the same way, we need to test the advice that we're giving other people. If it doesn't come from a place of impartial wisdom and love, or isn't Christ-centered, we shouldn't be speaking it (we also shouldn't rashly be giving advice - we can turn into fools very quickly). So be careful with what you receive, and be careful with what you speak.
In spite of all of this, I'm not in any way encouraging you to disrespect or disobey the authorities in your life. The Bible says that all authority is placed by the Lord, and should be respected. Many times in my life, when my authorities had a different opinion than my own, I would realize pretty quickly that their opinion was correct and mine was incorrect. I'm also not encouraging you to do whatever you want and just blithely cover it over with "well I had the right intention." No. You're responsible for what you do, and God is not pleased when we're careless with others.
Here is what I am encouraging: that you think before you speak and that you think before you receive. There is life in death in our words, and with that power comes more responsibility than we often exercise (Spider-Man has really good life lessons, I know). Do not casually criticize people and tear them down unnecessarily when you do not have the right to do so. Test your motives before you speak, and then test them again. Likewise, when someone is criticizing you, weigh their words before the Lord and make sure that they're something He wants you to receive. The key to all of this? Humility, and a solid relationship with the Lord at all times. If the relationship isn't solid and we drift away, we're opening ourselves up to destroying others and being destroyed. You have to be constantly in communication with God, and be sure that you know something is from Him before you act on it. Furthermore, if pride is coloring our words and reactions, we won't receive criticism or correction that the Lord does want us to receive, and we'll tear people down more readily.
Words are our weapons, so be careful how you're aiming them.
"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly" (Proverbs 15:1-2)
Comments
Post a Comment