Critical Spirit- A Critical Spirit Returns Home- WEDNESDAY
Critical Spirit
by
Rocky Fleming
Wednesday - A Critical Spirit Returns Home
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7: 1-2 NIV)
When I was a child I was given a genuine boomerang from Australia. This was a carved piece of wood with a unique airfoil that would return to a person if it were thrown in a right way. It took some time to get it down, but before long I had it working. I had seen people skilled in the use of this hunting weapon, and they could make it return and catch it in the air. Not me. I would throw it in a right way, and it would start its graceful, elliptical turn in the air, turning slowly from right to left in the yard. But when it began its down leg approach to me, in my mind it looked like a spinning instrument of death. I would start running away from it, for it was coming right at me and I was scared. It was a funny sight, as one would see a nine-year-old running in the yard behind his house looking for cover with a boomerang chasing him. I never got the catching thing down and eventually gave up on it for fear of being hurt. I got a few bruises and busted lips to teach me this lesson, and to also learn other lessons about how my actions can have consequences. I wonder if we could look at our critical spirit in the same way? If we began to see the truth with how our criticism returns to us like a painful device of agony, would we then begin to see the danger we are in by the careless use of our tongue and our judgmental attitudes? If we could simply make that connection, would that convince us how much God hates this use of our tongues? Let's see what Jesus says about it.
In the passage above Jesus gives a very clear answer if the boomerang of criticism comes back to hurt us, or bless us. He says that the good and the bad will return. It could be either. But understand, it will return. In some way it is going to happen. So let's talk about the bad first, and finish on the good, for that is the purpose of discipleship, which is to learn God's ways and to walk in them, for they lead to good.
There are many ways a critical spirit returns to us. I have watched many gossips and slandering people, of whom I have a couple people in mind as I write. What I have observed is that they have a bad disposition. I see very little joy. It seems that you do not have to be around this person very long before something negative is always pointed out. It seems that running someone down is a sport, or maybe an addiction. They seem to always get the bad break. This makes them angry. Life just seems so unfair to them. Most everyone is stupid except them, for their opinion is always right and they expect you to accept it. If you do not, you will get on their list, and before long you start to hear that you are a target of gossip. So far it is only the boomerang going out. But eventually that evil device starts its return home, and this is what I've observed about its return to these people.
People who really know them avoid these critical spirited people. No one trusts them over one time, for what is shared in confidence becomes fodder to give a piece of inside information on you. People no longer trust the excuse they hear that, "My friend needs our prayers... Can you believe she or he said...?" People around this person wise up, and claim up. Before long they stop showing up. The simple reason is ... they can't stand to be around this person. The negative attitude and perspective is a drain. The people around this person feel filthy and awash with trash. They feel unhealthy. If they stay in the presence of this person, they will be as this person is, and what they see they know needs to be avoided at all costs, unless they too become one of these agents of a critical spirit, and become addicted to the sport of gossip that they hear.
I have seen that their "stuff" returns to them. What we see is a return of the same words and perspective that they try to convince others to follow. It brings the same criticism, and the same consequences, and the same pain ... on them. The boomerang of criticism returns.
That is the bad. The blessing is that the good we say and do to others returns as well, and there is a reason to use our tongue to bless rather than run down. I love a passage that has led me for several years now. Let me share it:
"Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free." (Ephesians 6:9 NASB)
How clear is this promise? This is where we are promised that when we throw a boomerang of good it also returns to bless us. Here's the good part. It is the Lord who gives it back to us. No more bruises and busted lips come back from the Lord's blessed returns. No, they do what I was trying to do as a nine year old. I could never catch that piece of wood, except in my mouth. But His blessings that return to me? Why, I catch them in my heart, and I feel sooo good when they come back.