Encouragement

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17 TNIV). ... What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32).

Everybody's a critic!


Including me. I want to judge people and their performance at work in personal situations.



...That is before God REALLY began to work on me and who I am before him. Why do I think I have the right to criticize? Okay, there is a certain legitimacy to it. People can't be paid who don't perform. Incompetent persons in critical roles mess up the works for everybody else.


Accountability is a good thing. But some things that are done in the name of evaluation and accountability are mean. Hateful. Destructive.

I am not at that place any more!

There is such a thing as a critical spirit that perpetually leaves in its wake a mound of wounded souls and countless damaged or destroyed relationships. Harsh criticism from people who enjoy dishing it out is like a battering ram against even the most secure, strong-willed people in the world.

I am not at that place any more!

The question is how I handle it and do I let it control me.

The truth is that God loves me so deeply that he will not love me less when I do something wrong.

I want to be an encourager, not a critic.

When I know I am loved by God, feel secure in his acceptance, and experience the peace that comes of that relationship, I begin to understand how to relate to other people. I need to build the key relationships of my life on acceptance rather than skepticism. That is, I need to assign worth to persons as persons and refuse to make others feel they must earn my love by measuring up. Lord do not let the vicious spirit of harsh judgment invade my world today.



Let me be an encourager, not a critic, today, on the Adventure in Middle Grove.