Critical Spirit- A Critical View- TUESDAY
 Critical Spiritby Rocky Fleming Tuesday - A Critical View "We tend to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions?" Unknown I think I shared a while back that I believe God has revealed to me a gift of discernment that has shown itself in my life the last few years. It might have been a gift that has lain dormant, or maybe one that God has given to me during this period of my life and ministry with Influencers? I don't know. I only know it carries with it a burden of concern with both an overuse and an underuse of the gift. On one hand I am concerned that I might be alerted to something in my role in leadership, but I fail to quickly respond to it. On the other hand I am concerned that I might respond incorrectly and jump on something or someone in a way that quenches the Spirit's ability to use me or help that situation, as I disqualify myself with the use of this gift. Therefore I will tell you that this particular gift is not something fun. It drains me many times, for I understand that all gifts of the Spirit are important to the One who dispenses them, and I therefore take mine seriously. For this reason I have had to work hard with watching for any critical spirit that I was raised with, or that I have habitually embraced during my life, for that spirit can become deeply entrenched in us and we not realize it. I know that this evil spirit will greatly hamper my gift. But it is not just with those of us who have the gift of discernment that need to avoid it. It is true for every follower of Christ, for it will harm our ability to affect healthy change in others, and it will keep us in a bad place as well. How does it do this? It is because a critical spirit will see things in another person (and our self) that may or may not be true, and even if it is not true it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the target of our criticism will slowly become everything that we think (or hope) that we think they are. In other words our critical appraisal of them becomes a faux-reality, and we then justify our criticism by what we see. Have you heard as many "I told you sos?" as I have? Unfortunately many came from my own mouth, and many were not true. But really, do these people start to reveal those things we thought they were all along, or do they become this ogre that we have judged them to be only in our mind. We can never know the truth by our perceived insight, for a critical spirit just does not see things clearly. We do not even see ourselves clearly, for if we saw the work this spirit will do in our life as God does, we would be very concerned. I love the way Eugene Peterson states this passage in The Message: So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly-or worse. Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: "As I live and breathe," God says, "every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God." So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. (Romans 14:10 -14 MSG) The words of wisdom in my opening statement by the unknown author tells us how we judge others differently from our self. The distinction is actions verses intentions. There could also be another hidden distinctive that we can't spot, which is motive. Is the motive good or bad, is the question? For instance I have discovered that many people will say that the end justifies the end if their motives are good. In other words they will say that it is a case of situational ethics. They would also say that it is OK to lie and cheat and steal if it serves a good cause. How do you think Jesus sees that reasoning? How about when you think that it is OK to slander a person with gossip in the name of "prayerful concern," and say that it serves to reveal something that needs to be revealed in that person? Oh really? What would Jesus think of that? How about those who think their mental health requires that they "vent" against someone's reputation if that person has hurt them, and if it helps them heal from a wound this person has inflicted? What would Jesus say about that? Does this help or mental health while wounding our spiritual health? Which is worse? What would Jesus say about this? The truth is we need to rethink what is most important with Jesus, and do everything we can to see things His way when we start to pass our judgment on another person. We would be wise to understand that He sees things better than we do, and I can see no instance in His leadership that He endorses a critical spirit, no matter how bad a person or people look. It is not like Christ, and if we want to be His disciple, we need to be like Him in rejecting a critical sprit in our life. FOR MORE ON INFLUENCERS OR MAKING DISCIPLES |