Criticism

We live in a highly critical and judgmental culture. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is convinced about their correctness. I’ve been thinking about myself lately and how seemingly critical and judgmental I’ve become. From driving to loud chewing and political stances to theological viewpoints, it seems like so many people are wrong. Ok, that may be a stretch, but I bet you have your pet peeves too!

Lately, I’ve been wondering what criticism and judgment does to my soul. It can’t have zero effect. I also wonder how critical or judgmental Jesus was in his life. When I read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the only times Jesus seems to be critical is to religious leaders. He is saddened by unbelief and draws His followers into deeper faith.

I don’t find where Jesus teaches us to criticize. There seems to be other passages that do promote criticism, but Jesus never does. Even in His loving conversation with Nicodemus, He lovingly talks him toward faith in spite of his clear misunderstanding of who Jesus was.

One of my favorite Jesus quotes is in Luke 6. He is discussing judging and condemning others. He starts the dialogue by saying…

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37

Jesus said that it will come back against you. This is the part that I’m considering when negative thoughts of others enter my mind. What happens to my soul when I judge, criticize, and condemn?

Was Jesus simply warning about the effects of judging others or was He giving instruction on how to judge? It seems clear that the consequences are big. Is it similar to the known dangers of consuming sugar, but the enjoyment far out weighs the consequences? We probably judge because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

On to my favorite part of Jesus’ dialogue:

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42

Can you see it? People walking around with logs hanging out of their eyes banging into one another while pointing out little saw dust particles in other people’s eyes. In His sense of humor, Jesus is calling our attention to how foolish it looks when we all have obvious obstructions to our view while trying to fix those around us.

Are we worried about small “specks” and disagreements in the people around us? Are the things we criticize really that important? Does it reflect more about what is going on in our hearts? In pointing out the small imperfections around us, do we hope to distract from our own major fractures?

Jesus is pointing out the obvious – we all have flaws. We all try and fail to cover them up. Criticizing and judging others only makes our flaws all the more visible. This is what I think Jesus means by it coming back on us. Criticism is like a mirror. It reflects our short-comings.

There is another mirror we can reach for instead of criticism – Scripture. Scripture shows us our failures and how to resolve them. Scripture reveals and uncovers. It is sharp and powerful. When reflecting on it, we are cut to the heart and begin to look for solutions instead of criticisms.

There might be times that we think we are to correct or need to point out the errors we see around us. How do we go about doing this properly?

Paul teaches us that we are to “test” everything.

“but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

The word test is the word dokimazō in Greek. It means:

1. to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals

2. to recognise as genuine after examination, to approve, deem worthy

We do have the right to examine, test (aka: judge), and scrutinize what we hear and see around us. It all how we go about it that matters.

Paul says to test, hold on, and stay away. Hmmm…this is very internal and not very vocal is it? I can hold on to what is good after testing something someone says or does. I can stay away from anything that is bad for me, negative, or evil.

There is nothing about vocally criticizing the person who said what they said. Well, that’s a bummer.

Ray Rhoton