Digesting Criticism
–Edited from the Plains Baptist Challenger
Ultimately, our goal is to please God and magnify Christ. So if we care more about what God thinks of us, instead of what people think of us, we are going to be criticized. Proverbs 29:25 tells us that, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” When we fear God, He supplies us with the understanding we need to make sense of why we are receiving criticism. It may be a part of our trial of faith; a part of God’s refining process, or even just a part of serving the Lord. Surviving criticism depends a lot upon who you fear the most! David said, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Psalm 118:6
Whenever we receive criticism, it is best to give the benefit of the doubt to the critic before over-reacting—they may have a point. For instance, when we receive a criticism, it is crucial to ask, “Are these statements justified and are they true?” Never presume that you are always right! Often it is not our response to criticism that is wrong; it is the way we react towards the critic. The best thing to do when receiving criticism is to immediately evaluate it by the Word of God and begin praying, “Lord, keep my heart open to the truth and I will change if you reveal the way to me.” Remember, the truth shall make you free, even if at first it makes you miserable. Allow criticism to grow you spiritually!
One of the most important points to apply is, “treat the critic better than they deserve.” God loves mercy and He delights in the merciful (Micah 6:8, Matthew 5:7). Some critics are just complainers, nitpickers, and gripers; yet God says to have mercy on them. Too often, we feel the urge to win the argument, but I have learned that I may win the argument and lose the relationship. People are more important than arguments. Sometimes criticism just doesn’t deserve, or maybe even need, an answer.
Christian, let criticisms make you better, not bitter. Too often we sit around waiting for those who have given offense to come and say they are sorry. Remember, no one was saying they were sorry at the foot of the cross, and yet mercy and forgiveness were freely offered—“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” You never know what God can produce in your life through criticism.
“There is much in the world to make us afraid, but there is so much more in our faith to make us unafraid.”
SHARING
Follow Me
–Pastor Chuck Peters
“Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.” John 21:22
Peter, in the context, inquired as to what John should do. Jesus admonished Peter to focus primarily on his own personal responsibility to follow the Lord.
We have a tendency to want to manage other people’s lives while ignoring our own responsibilities and needs. There are far too many lost people who go through life focused on how sinful everyone else is at the expense of overlooking their own sinful condition before a Holy God. They, furthermore, are more concerned in the accumulation of “things” than attending to the need of salvation of their soul. Multitudes of people are on a sinking ship, yet clinging to their luggage while the ship is going down. Their luggage can’t save them. They need to grab the life raft of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Christians need to quit managing other people’s lives and simply get serious about following the Lord! Instead of saying, “What about John,” we need to focus on God’s personal will for our own lives. The best approach to following the Lord is to get serious about starting with the basics. Those basics are: Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, witnessing, and stewardship.
We simply need to be a good follower of the Lord. God said of Caleb, “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” Numbers 14:24
Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.” We all fail when it comes to talents and abilities, but we can, by the grace of God, follow Him!
SHARINGA God To Pharaoh
–By Pastor Barry Farnsworth
“And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh.” Exodus 7:1a
At 80 years of age, Moses was being sent to deliver his people from Egypt. His 83 year old brother was to be his voice. The negotiations were to begin. They would tell Pharaoh what God said, and Pharaoh, for the most part, would not listen. However, it was time to speak up for the Lord. It was time to do what God had told them to do. It was time for judgment and judgment would precede deliverance. Everything was to happen according to the order God had established.
God told Moses he would be “a god to Pharaoh.” He would lay down the demands. He would require obedience. He would bring judgment. As far as Pharaoh was concerned, dealing with Moses was the same as dealing with God. Pharaoh might not know God, but he would learn. He might not obey, but he would wish he had. He might not recognize authority, but soon he would recognize no other authority. He may not like the arrangement, but he could not change it no matter how much earthly power he possessed.
What we might take from this exchange is that God is not only God to His people, but He is also God to the world. God is their God whether or not they choose to listen. He is their God whether or not they choose to obey. Moses is His voice. God will deliver His people from the world, but while His people are waiting to be delivered, they should remember to speak for God to the world. There is a reason God chose Moses to speak to Pharaoh, and there is a reason He chose you to speak to the world of our day. While our names may not be recorded in the Scripture, we can still be a Moses to a lost and dying world.
Are you ready to face your Pharaoh?
“And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” Exodus 7:5
SHARINGSuper Sundays (Without The Bowl)
The First Super Sunday – God Created Light: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:5
The Resurrection Day Was a Super Sunday: “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.” Luke 24:1-2. “He is not here, but is risen” Luke 24:6.
The Last Day of Pentecost (a 50 day feast) Was A Super Sunday: It was the day of ingathering of Old Testament believers into the New Testament Church: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. …we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:1-41
God Gave The Book Of Revelation To John On A Super Sunday: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” Revelation 1:10
Wouldn’t it be something if Jesus was to return on the Lord’s Day? What a Super Sunday that would be! Matthew 24:36,42,44
Beware of the desecration of the Lord’s Day (that’s not super)—“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13-14. Beware of making pleasures the “idol” before God: “…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” 2 Timothy 3:4
SHARINGYour Sorrow Shall Be Turned Into Joy
(John 16:20)
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren…that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13
The scripture does not lead us to believe that Christians have no sorrow, but rather due to our hope in Christ, we do not sorrow as the unsaved, who are without real hope.
Jeremiah’s life was filled with such heartbreaking experiences in witnessing the spiritual apostasy and eventual devastation of his country with the Babylonian captivity, that he is often referred to as the weeping prophet. Some of this is reflected in the Book of Lamentations. Job wept while suffering the loss of all things, even his health, as he was despised and denigrated by his friends. Our Lord and Saviour was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). There were many periods in David’s life that are reflected in Psalm 38:17: “For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.”
Yet in light of the hope God’s Word sets before us, our faith is enabled to triumph over our sorrow, “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” 2 Corinthians 6:10.
The difference is that a lost person’s present hope will all be swallowed up in the coming eternal hopelessness, while a saved person’s sorrow will all be swallowed up in the coming glory that awaits us.
An unsaved person has no Divine intervention for their problems, whereas with the saved, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”, assures us that whenever necessary, God can and will intervene in the lives of those waiting upon Him. The lost have no larger plan and purpose for their lives, but the saved know God has a larger plan for our lives that involves His care. The lost have no promise that everything will work out for them in the end, whereas the saved have the promise that, at the outcome of all our trials, everything will work out for good to those that love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Thus, as we sorrow in this life, our sorrow is enlightened with, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1
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