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- Apr 25, 2006
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HANDLING CRITICISM (1)
''...A wise person stays calm when insulted' ' Proverbs 12:16
Your heart's pounding, you can feel a trickle of sweat run down your back, you take a deep gulp. Your teacher turns to you, stern as stone, and calmly says, 'Can I have a word... In my office.' Your mind races. Your brain scans for what you've done wrong. You heart's like a drum in your ears.
They sit you down, and so it begins... No one likes being criticised. It's like a red raw slap in the face. Especially if you don't feel it's deserved. But criticism is a very necessary process to go through if you want to get better. The Bible uses the language of pruning which is the trimming process trees go through so they can keep growing healthily and be produce fruit.
Even Word 4U 2Day entries get pruned! We also need pruning. But here are a few safety tips as you head towards the pruning shears, so that when it happens, you don't think you're getting chopped down:
1) Cling on to rational thinking. Don't lose the plot!
2) Check your conscience. Has God been prodding you about the same issue?
3) Consider the critic. Do you trust them, and do they live a good life themselves?
4) Look for God's purposes in it, no matter what. '...There is healing in the words of the wise' (Proverbs 12:18 TM).
What now? Have you been left reeling from something someone's said to you? Ask God to shine light and truth in to your heart so you can step forward and grow healthily.
written by Bob Gass
''...A wise person stays calm when insulted' ' Proverbs 12:16
Your heart's pounding, you can feel a trickle of sweat run down your back, you take a deep gulp. Your teacher turns to you, stern as stone, and calmly says, 'Can I have a word... In my office.' Your mind races. Your brain scans for what you've done wrong. You heart's like a drum in your ears.
They sit you down, and so it begins... No one likes being criticised. It's like a red raw slap in the face. Especially if you don't feel it's deserved. But criticism is a very necessary process to go through if you want to get better. The Bible uses the language of pruning which is the trimming process trees go through so they can keep growing healthily and be produce fruit.
Even Word 4U 2Day entries get pruned! We also need pruning. But here are a few safety tips as you head towards the pruning shears, so that when it happens, you don't think you're getting chopped down:
1) Cling on to rational thinking. Don't lose the plot!
2) Check your conscience. Has God been prodding you about the same issue?
3) Consider the critic. Do you trust them, and do they live a good life themselves?
4) Look for God's purposes in it, no matter what. '...There is healing in the words of the wise' (Proverbs 12:18 TM).
What now? Have you been left reeling from something someone's said to you? Ask God to shine light and truth in to your heart so you can step forward and grow healthily.
written by Bob Gass
