“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Do not criticize one another, my friends…” James 4:10-11a
Spiritual Walk and Musings: Criticism.
What an emotionally amazing week this has been. Could you get to sleep after the Silver Ferns gold medal? Could it be that this week there has been a higher percentage of good news than the sensationalised grim news? The other day I read “Plane crashes, terror threats, oil spills, toxic leaks. The TV news diet is often dire, rarely joyous. And then there were the pictures on Wednesday of brave, dignified miners who had been trapped beneath the ground for more than two months being brought to the surface, to breathe fresh air and to hug their loved ones.” Every time I watched a miner being lifted out of the ground – it was an emotional moment.
Think of the different teams working together from around the world focused on one thing – to rescue those 33 miners. The depth of human spirit God has blessed us with is tremendous. When humans work in unity and bypass the blame game – it is amazing what can be achieved. Perhaps that is one reason James warns against criticising (James 4:11–12). Without knowing all the facts – it seems the Chile government did not waste time criticising or playing the blame game. Instead they quickly focused on rescue. They were not so proud as to try and do it alone but sought help from around the world quickly – and look at the outcome. We all know stories of other countries where people have been trapped alive deep below, and sadly they did get caught up in the blame game and sadly they were too proud to ask for help outside of their own country until it was too late.
To Ponder and Pray: Critique.
Lord – may we be open to critique of self,
knowing none of us are perfect.
We seek a healthy humility.
Lord – may we be closed to the temptation to criticise others.
We seek a healthy self-awareness
of our words towards other.
And Lord – help us to encourage.
