{"id":34348,"date":"2022-09-10T21:24:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T02:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/learning-from-critics\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T21:24:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T02:24:59","slug":"learning-from-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/learning-from-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from Critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent commentary for Baptist Press<\/em>, LifeWay CEO Thom Rainer talks about ways he has learned from his critics. Among his seven suggestions:<\/p>\n

Criticism helps me to think twice before I criticize others. I know the pain of criticism. I know the hurt that comes when a critic comes after me with an unfounded accusation. If I don’t like that pain, why should I inflict it on others? I recently spoke with a pastor who was lamenting the level of criticism he receives, but this pastor has a blog that is inevitably critical of someone almost every time he writes. He does not see the inconsistency in his behavior and the way he would like to be treated.<\/p>\n

“Consider the source” is a good guideline. I have learned that some people are just negative. They seem stuck in that one disposition. They skip the reading of Philippians 4 because the text mandates we “rejoice in the Lord.” Some critics should be heard. Many should not.<\/p>\n

Criticism can lead us to greater depths of prayer. I wish I were the man of prayer that I should be; but I fall short, very short of where I need to be. Criticism hurts me. Sometimes the pain is more than I can handle, so I turn it over to my Lord to handle it for me. I wish I did that all the time. Sometimes the criticism is extremely painful and just what I needed. It drives me to pray even more fervently.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the critic is right. Yes, it’s painful to be criticized; but on more occasions than I’m comfortable admitting, I’ve had the additional pain of learning that I indeed needed correction. The Bible can be pretty straightforward about it: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1). Call me stupid. Criticism hurts, but it can be for our benefit. The critic can be right.<\/p>\n

God, give me the discernment to know when to listen to my critic so that I might truly learn and change. I have a long way to go. (Click here to read the full article.)<\/p>\n

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In a recent commentary for Baptist Press, LifeWay CEO Thom Rainer talks about ways he has learned from his critics. Among his seven suggestions: Criticism helps me to think twice before I criticize others. I know the pain of criticism. I know the hurt that comes when a critic comes after me with an unfounded … Continue reading “Learning from Critics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}