Criticism: November 29, 2012

TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY NOVEMBER 29, 2012.

CRITICISM

DEFINITION:

An act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything; an act of passing judgment; censure; an unfavorable comment.

SCRIPTURE:

For the Lord will judge His people and have compassion on His servants. Deuteronomy 32:36

Judge not that you be not judged. Matthew 7:1

You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. John 8:15

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

How many times recently can you remember being criticized? It was not easy to take, was it? But turn that thought around and think how many times recently you have criticized someone. Criticism is easy to give but hard to take. Some criticism is justified and other criticism is not acceptable. Criticism is useful only if it is constructive and lovingly given.

We can remember being with people in past years that have been very critical of people, places and things. It seemed that no one could do anything right in their sight. In the world we live in there are many people that just by their nature need to be critical in their evaluation of others. These people are always negative in their thinking and do not seem to enjoy any of the blessings they have.

In real life if you continually associate with one who is critical, you soon will become just as critical yourself. Life is full of choices and we need to choose people that we associate with daily who are kind, considerate and look at what is good in others rather than looking for something to criticize. People criticize others because they are trying to boost their own egos.

Jesus was critical of criticism. When we criticize someone or something we become a judge and we are passing our judgment on to another person’s actions. None of us are perfect so we have no right to criticize others. We do not know all the circumstances and our criticism of others comes from not knowing all the facts. In John 8:15 (above), Jesus was defending himself to the Pharisees who were critical of Him for claiming that He was the Son of God. At this point in time they did not believe Jesus was who He said He was. Jesus responded to them by saying they judged according to the flesh (human standards) but He judged no one. This is a lesson for us today to examine our motives when we are tempted to criticize someone. Jesus did not criticize others for their weaknesses. He showed them compassion and forgiveness.

As parents we taught our children to respect others no matter who they were or even though they might not agree with that person or with what they did. We often explained that criticism hurt and hurting people was not of God. We also discussed the negatives that happen when you judge people. We tried to encourage our children never to judge a person and to always let God take care of the situation. Everyone must answer to God for their own actions. Only God has the right to judge.  This is a difficult concept for one of any age to comprehend and practice. But we have learned, many times the hard way, to let go and let God take over. Try it, it works!

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 1:1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.


PRAYER:

Help me today not to criticize others but to try to see the good in everyone. Help me to be an encourager and not a critic. May others see in me a compassionate person that glorifies You in all that I do and say. Give me a tender heart and a new love for every person I touch with my life.