Criticism

Oh, alright, I admit it, I have a hard time handling criticism. It's extremely difficult to receive criticism from someone who in my viewpoint doesn't know anything about the subject at hand.

Jesus said some great things about criticism. He said that it's crazy to point out a piece of criticism in someone else's eye and not pay attention to the log that is ticking out of your eye.

Let me tell you what I know about criticism.

It focuses on little things.

Small stuff.

It's human nature to take something that really bugs us about somebody or something and take it - no matter how small it is - and blow it out of proportion.

What's wild about that is that this can be especially true about people who are the closest to us.

Rarely is criticism constructive.

Most of the time we don't criticize others in order to help them. We criticize to make ourselves feel important, to get something off our "chest".

If somebody criticizes me, it's negative. If I criticize somebody else it's "constructive".

So many times we exaggerate the faults of others while ignoring our own.

Some people don't need the criticism of others. They are so hard on themselves that anything anyone else says is just the confirmation they are looking for that they aren't worthy or not talented or able to do the task at hand.

There is a place of introspection, not in the morbid sense, but in the biblical sense. That means that I let God into the details of my life and open myself up to the Holy Spirit working on me so that I might be the man of God he has called me to be.

He does that through His word.

He does that through His Holy Spirit.

He does that through (yes, it's true) through others who will give us honest and sometimes painful evaluations of what we do.

Bullet points (quotes):

People of low ambition are overly critical because so much of life is beyond their reach.

Listening to gossip is as wrong as spreading it.

Gossip should never be disguised as concern.

If you agree to bury the hatchet, don't leave the handle sticking out.

Never criticize your barber - at least not while you are getting a hair cut.

Criticism and finding fault are not spiritual gifts.

To belittle is to be little.

The urge to criticize someone usually comes from feelings of resentment.

If you make an effort to overlook the little faults in others, they'll d the same for you.