I could easily have a job being a critic. I’m a critical thinker who likes to think through thinks and make improvements. If there was a field like movies or food that I had expertise in, I’d have no problem detecting how improvements could be made and point out the flaws in a given presentation. I believe part of my natural tendency to critique is of The Lord when governed by His spirit. I believe this to be true because Holy Spirit produces excellence in us which is only truly possible by submission to Him. However if not led by the Holy Spirit, a critical spirit can actually shut down our ability to hear from God and to cooperate with His spirit. This is an area where I’ve continual struggled particularly as I’ve seen the good, the bad, the great, and the ugly in ministry.
No one is perfect no matter who they are and how well they might do something. Everyone is flawed because we are human. There is no exception for anyone even those in ministry. While many called into occupational ministry might be really great people, they can never be perfect because they too are humans in constant need of the Perfect One, Jesus. When we have expectations that people or organizations particularly in ministry should be perfect, we will always find inadequacies.
As believers we are to rightly test every spirit. “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”-I Thessalonians 5:19-22. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”-I John 4:1. I list these scriptures because I don’t want anyone to think that we are just to accept and endorse any teaching we hear. We need to make sure the word of God is not only being taught with integrity, but lived out rightly as well.
While we do need to make sure we are listening to sound doctrine, we don’t need to openly criticize, exploit and mock people. There is no fruit of the Spirit that results in this and it furthers hurts the testimony of Jesus. I have often been disgusted at times with the amount of arguments and critical things Christians post back and forth on Facebook particularly against other Christians. I wonder what it looks like to those who aren’t Christians to see those who claim to know Jesus being so critical of those in the “same way of life”. I wonder if those outside the Body of Christ feel as if they were to step into a church that they too would be criticized with whatever they might be walking through. If we are so critical of “our own”, how could we ever accept them in their struggles particularly when they know they are in sin?
I’m not making excuses for what the word of God says as it is very clear on defining sin. I can’t excuse someone from sin as it was never a standard set by man. The fact is that men did not write the Bible and if people are preaching from the Bible and it offends people, then the arguments need to be directed towards God as He is the author. However there is a way to communicate the truth of His word in love and in a way that is not critical of others. It’s the goodness of God that leads men to repentance, not critics. God can not be with sin because He is without sin, not because He wants to be mean and exclusive. Sometimes this is how we make Him appear to those who don’t know Him by having a critical attitude.
As believers we must realize that a critical spirit is of the enemy and it hinders us from hearing rightly from God. Satan wasn’t satisfied with his position that God had given him in heaven at the beginning of creation and he wanted to be like God and have more power. Perhaps he thought that he could do things better than God. Maybe he would have changed the way the angels worshiped to look to him more. Whatever his reasoning, he was critical of what God has created and now is eternally damned and unable to worship God.
When we give into a critical spirit and find continual fault in things, we are operating selfishly and saying our opinion is the only right opinion. Again I am not referring to standing by the standards of God’s word, but to a critical mindset. If we believe we are the only ones right and find fault with other things, we position ourselves to not hear His voice and His opinion.
There are many in the world who are critical of the church and if we in the church take the same position as they, how are we supposed to reach them with the love of God? We will continue to see God do amazing things that only He can do and unfortunately we will continue to see ourselves and others at times fall prey to being critical and not reflecting Him well. It’s in the moments where we are tempted to critique and to fault find that we need the help of the Holy Spirit. We need to invite Him in to show us His heart and His opinion. In moving forward He might lead us to pray for that pastor, that elder, that fellow church friend in our private times rather than remain critical of them.
If we don’t take care to eradicate a critical spirit from our lives, it will carry over to how we see God. Let’s pray for God to make us aware of when we are cooperating with being critical and ask Him to help us extend grace, mercy, and restoration.
Are you one who continually looks for faults in people or in a church service? Do you quietly rejoice with a “I knew it” mentality when other people particularly Christians make mistakes? Do you hold on to offenses and project them onto other people and scenarios? Are there stumbling blocks of prejudices in your heart that cause you to be critical? How is your life being reflected before non-Christians? Does it reflect a critical attitude about God or the church to them?