I have noticed that more and more people do not want to receive any sort of criticism. They don’t want to be accountable. They don’t want to be questioned in any way, rather they demand that even their folly be held up as truth. It’s nonsense.
This pendulum, I believe, has been swinging back this far because for a long time there was such an emphasis on accountability. That wasn’t a bad idea at its root, but it became a very perverse thing. Leaders were not walking in the same accountability they demanded from their flock. Or if they were in some sort of accountability, it was only with other leaders like them, who were afraid to truly correct them, lest they cause a rift.
We must stop allowing the mistakes of the past to destroy our present and future.
Here is what God says:
If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept correction, you will be honored. Proverbs 13:18
I understand some of the reasons people avoid criticism. First of all, it can hurt. Second, I have received some very unfounded criticism from some very self-serving and hypocritical people in the past. I get it. But we’d be fools to imagine that just because some people are that way, we don’t need to be corrected by anyone.
I’ve discovered the best Adviser. When I remain sensitive, God has a gentle way of correcting my heart. I’ve noticed that He mostly uses others to correct us if we’ve first ignored Him on multiple occasions. He wants to instruct our hearts. He wants to be the One teaching us, it’s just that sometimes we simply ignore that still small voice…so He brings in another to assist. You can disagree if you’d like to, but this is honestly the way I see it.
We all need correction sometimes. None of us is immune.
God makes it clear that He will show us the way to go…
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true- it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. 1 John 2:27
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
If we have Holy Spirit within, then we carry all truth inside of us. He will show us the way to go if we simply listen and obey. It’s that simple.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17
365 Days in the Presence 