Is anybody out there touchy like me? I flunked Basic Critique. I so steered clear of it I feel certain I mistook gestures and comments toward me as a negative rather than valuable. I find in the church we do many things; but overall we don't do criticism.
Oddly, it is this venue that is most necessary. II Cor. 12:5-11 is the masterpiece of revelation declaring each disciple must have in front of him or her a strong critic(s) to decifer who it is that is really running this show. It is God; not us. It is our weakness borne in frustration that fits perfectly into the power of Christ.
Weird huh? It turns out we shut off the faucet of power because one thing we certainly will not tolerate is insult and persectution. No sir! People ought to be grateful we are one of the good guys. We could be hoodlums, you know.
Philip Yancey's point is poignant. How would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified? What government would execute Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo?
We aren't called to be nice. We are called to be hurt. We are drawn into a life of woundedness for the sake of our enemies.
We are called to be reps for the Kingdom of God and this isn't going to go over well. The tendency to save our own necks has thrown kingdom impact to the wind. This is so serious that it isn't a matter to the masses that we are liked; we just don't want to be disliked. We hate that last part.
Yet, criticism is the Miracle-Grow of life in Jesus. It helps us to be centered upon the trelles of the cross that we may ideally bloom where we are planted.
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