Criticism

Criticism

I Drew My Circle Again
When I first became a member of the church, my circle was very big... for it included all who, like myself, had believed. I was happy in the thought that my brethren were many. But, having a keen and observant mind, I soon learned that many of my brethren were erring. I could not tolerate any people within my circle but those who, like myself, were right on all points of doctrine and practice. Too, some made mistakes and sinned. What could I do? I had to do something! I drew my circle again... leaving the publicans and sinners outside, excluding the Pharisees in all their pride, with myself and the righteous and humble within. I heard ugly rumors about some brethren. I saw then that some of them were worldly-minded; their thoughts were constantly on things of a worldly nature. So duty bound, to save my reputation, I drew my circle again...leaving those reputable spiritually-minded within. I realized in time that only my family and myself remained in the circle. I had a good family, but to my surprise, my family finally disagreed with me. I was always right. A man must be steadfast. I have never been a factious man! So in strong determination, I drew my circle again...leaving me quite alone. Are Your Shoes on the Wrong Feet?
One day a little boy complained that his new shoes were hurting his feet. I looked down at his feet. No wonder they hurt. His shoes were on the wrong feet! When I changed them he felt better and was soon the liveliest little fellow in the group.
Sometimes our lives seem all sour and stale. We find fault with everyone around us. We need to stop and take a good look at our feet. If we were wearing the same shoes the other fellow wears, would we be happy?

Broken Heart
I heard a story about a man who invited his neighbor to attend church with him. On the way home, the neighbor said, "I noticed you have a new preacher." "Yes," said his friend, "We fired the old one. He was always telling us unless we repented, we were going to hell." "But," the neighbor replied, "your new preacher said the very same thing this morning." "True," was the reply, "but our old preacher acted like he was happy about the situation. When our new preacher says this, it seems to break his heart."

What About Your Pocket?
A serviceman once wrote about a moment of comedy he had witnessed in the army. It happened during a company inspection at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
The inspection was being conducted by a full colonel. Everything had gone smoothly until the officer came to a certain soldier, looked him up and down and snapped, "Button that pocket, trooper!"
The soldier, more than a little rattled, stammered, "Right now, sir?"
"Of course, right now!" was the reply.
Whereupon the soldier very carefully reached out and buttoned the flap on the colonel's shirt pocket. The officer had been quick to note the youngster's uniform problem, but hadn't noticed his own.
For some reason, we seem to be the same way. The faults of others stick out like a missing tooth, while our own are often hard to spot. Small specks in other people seem major, while the planks in our own eye seem excusable (Matthew 7:1-5).
Let's quit dwelling on the faults of others all the time. The church needs builders and workers-not a wrecking crew. Work on your own faults, then seek to help others in a spirit of gentleness. That Anonymous Note
Dwight Moody was preaching when someone passed a note to him through the usher. It had only one word: "Fool." Moody looked at it and said, "I've often received notes that weren't signed. This is the first time I've received a note that someone forgot to write, but signed."

If You Are Mad at the Dog, Don't Kick the Cat!
A preacher asked a certain man why he had just ceased to attend the services of the church. The man replied, "They haven't treated me right over there." The preacher asked, "Then why don't you go home and beat your wife?" The startled backslider gave the preacher a look which questioned his sanity. "My wife hasn't done anything against me," he said.
"Well," the preacher said, "has the Lord Jesus done anything against you?" Being peeved at the brethren and forsaking the Lord is about as logical as being angry with the dog and kicking the cat. If you don't believe Christ is to judge your feeling for Him by the way you treat the church, then try Matthew 25:40.

Before You Criticize
When you are disposed to criticize a friend,
Just remember, the beginning's not the end;
When within this urge you find,
These three questions bring to mind:
Is it TRUE? Is it NEEDFUL? Is it KIND?

Don't Find Fault
Pray don't find fault with the man who limps
Or stumbles along the road,
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears
Or struggled beneath his load.
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
Though hidden way from view,
Or the burden he bears, placed on your back,
Might cause you to stumble, too.
Don't sneer at the man who's down today,
Unless you have felt the blow
That caused his fall, or felt the same
That only the fallen can know.
You may be strong, but still the blows
That were his, if dealt to you
In the self-same way the self-same time,
Might cause you to stagger, too.
Don't be too harsh with the man who sins
Or pelt him with words or stones,
Unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,
That you have no sins of your own.
For you know perhaps, if the tempter's voice
Could whisper as soft to you
As it did to him when he went astray,
T'would cause you to falter, too.

Watch Your Criticism
Be careful and cautious how you criticize. The man who had a good opinion of himself and his own virtues and thought he was so much better than anyone else, stopped in front of a taxidermist's window, in which there was an owl which had attracted quite a crowd of sightseers.
So sure he was far superior in his knowledge of birds, he remarked, "Well, if I couldn't stuff an owl better than that, I would quit the business. The head is not right; the pose of the body is awkward; the feathers are not right; and the feet are not under it right." Just then the owl turned its head and gave him a quick wink or two.
The crowd roared. They turned to comment to him; but he slunk away as fast as he could go.

Quick to Criticize
A man came up to Moody once and criticized him for the way he went about winning souls. Moody listened courteously and then asked, "How would you do it?" The man, taken aback, mumbled that he didn't do it. "Well," said Moody, "I prefer the way I do it to the way you don't do it."

Aiming Your Cannon
An officer on the battlefield aimed his cannon toward what he thought was the distant enemy. Just before he fired, the commander, looking through his field glasses, shouted, "Your aim seems perfect, but stop! They are not the enemy; they are our own people." Did you ever think that when you aim criticism at God's people so thoughtlessly, you are actually aiming your cannon at the Lord of your brethren?

Can't Dispute Facts
What does the criticism of others do to our inner self? Take the case of Col. George Washington Goethals. While contending with the manifold problems of geography and climate in the building of the Panama Canal, he had to endure the carping criticism of countless busybodies back home who freely predicted he would never complete his task. But he pressed steadily forward in his work and said nothing. "Aren't you going to answer your critics?" a subordinate inquired. "In time," Goethals replied. "How?" The great engineer smiled. "With the canal," he said. A Mirrored Image
The story is told of a man and an angel who were walking along together. The man was complaining about his neighbors. "I never saw such a wretched set of people," he said, "as are in this village. They are mean, greedy, selfish, and careless of the needs of others. Worst of all, they are forever speaking evil of one another." "Is it really so?" asked the angel. "It is, indeed," said the man. "Why, only look at this fellow coming toward us! I know his face, though I cannot remember his name. See his little shark-like, cruel eyes, darting here and there like a ferret's, and the lines of hardness about his mouth! The very droop of his shoulders is mean and cringing, and he slinks along instead of walking." "It is very clever of you to see all this," said the angel, "but there is one thing that you did not perceive-that is a mirror we are approaching."

Allow Differences
Many years ago in Germany, so the story goes, there lived a shoemaker who had a habit of speaking harshly of all his neighbors who didn't think quite as he did about religion. The pastor of the parish in which he lived heard of this and felt he must give him a lesson. So he went to the shoemaker one morning and said, "Will you please take my measurements for a pair of boots?"
"With pleasure, sir," answered the shoemaker. "Please take off your boot." The clergyman did so, and the shoemaker measured his foot from toe to heel and over the instep, and wrote it all down in his notebook.
As he was writing up his measurements, the pastor said, "My son also needs a pair of boots."
"I'll be glad to make them, too. When can I take his measurements?"
"Oh, that's not necessary," said the pastor. "The lad is only twelve, but you can make my boots and his from the same last."
The shoemaker looked at him with a puzzled smile and said, "That would never do. They would never fit such a young boy."
"I tell you," insisted the pastor, "to make my son's on the same last."
"No, sir, I can't do it," protested the shoemaker. He began to wonder if the pastor was losing his wits.
"Well, then, shoemaker," said the clergyman, "you accept the fact that every pair of boots must be made on their own last, if they are to fit. Yet you think that God wants to form all Christians exactly according to your own last, of the same measure and growth in spiritual matters as yourself. That won't do either, you know."
The shoemaker got the point and said, "Thank you for your sermon. I'll try to remember it and judge my neighbors less harshly in the future." The Spiritual Skeleton
An old fable tells of a man cursed with the power of seeing other human beings, not in the beauty of flesh and blood, but as skeletons gaunt and grisly. Some saints seem to have taken upon themselves this curse. Do you feel that you are the only one who is right with the Lord-that everybody else is a spiritual skeleton because he is not of the same denominational stripe or has not the same scruples of conscience as you? Take him or her into your circle of believers as Paul did, as long as they are calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unjust Criticism
A Texas paper comments on the criticisms concerning a preacher: "The preacher has a great time. If his hair is grey he is too old; if he is a young man he hasn't had enough experience. If he has ten children he has too many; if he has none he is not setting a good example. If his wife sings in the choir she is presuming; if she doesn't she isn't interested in her husband's work. If a preacher reads from notes he is a bore; if he speaks extemporaneously he isn't deep enough. If he stays at home in his study, he does not mix enough with his people; if he is seen around on the streets, he ought to be home getting out a good sermon. If he calls at the homes of the wealthy, he is an aristocrat; if he calls on the poor family, then he is playing to the grandstand. Whatever he does, someone could have told him to do better." Pity the poor preacher, and for that matter every leader who has critical followers. Let us have confidence in our spiritual leaders, not blind confidence, but confidence that stems from personal persuasion that they are doing the best that they can under the circumstances.

Misjudged
There was a man who seemed stingy to everybody who knew him. He would be very scrupulous about how he spent even a nickel or a dime, so that he was greatly ridiculed. Finally it became known that he had an invalid wife and an invalid child for whom he cared, and they needed the very last penny that he could save to keep them alive. The criticism of outsiders now turned to admiration for him. Because we are unable to know everything about a man, we cannot possibly judge him rightly. A Poor Example
A father, who attended church with his little boy, found fault with everything in the service. As he walked home, he criticized the minister, the sermon, the choir, and everything in general. The boy, who had noticed what his father put in the offering plate, said, "Well, Dad, what can you expect for a quarter?"

Remember Those Dogs
A certain unbeliever, a blacksmith, was in the habit when anyone came into his shop of telling some wrong a Christian brother, deacon or minister had done, and saying, "That is one of these fine Christians we hear so much about!" An old gentleman, an eminent Christian, one day went into the shop. The unbeliever soon began talking about what some Christians had done. The old deacon stood a few minutes and listened, and then quietly asked the unbeliever if he had read the story in the Bible about the rich man and Lazarus. "Yes, many a time; and what of it?" "Well, you remember about the dogs; how they came and licked the sores of Lazarus? Now," said the deacon, "do you know, you just remind me of those dogs-content to merely lick the Christian's sores."