Wednesday, July 25, 2007
My QT learning:Ephesians 4:25-32
God pays attention to how we treat each other. Moses could have written a book on how to cope with critical people. As the Exodus leader of the masses out of Egypt, Moses endured far more criticism than he deserved. In Numbers 14, we read how God condemned people to die in the wilderness because of their incessant murmuring. When Moses' own family picked up the sour song, God came to Moses' defense. To Miriam and Aaron, He said, "Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in the riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed" (Numbers 12:7-9).
Notice God's deep feelings. He didn't wait for explantions, and they didn't wait long for consequences (Numbers 12). Obviously, we want to soften the judgement and call criticism a weakness or a bad habit. Criticism is both, but God also calls it a sin.
Listen up - if we have a critical attitude, it is also hindering your fellowship with God. If our spiritual life is like a wilderness - dry, dead, cheerless, & joyless - maybe it's because we've allowed a critical attitude toward a person or a group of ppl to sour our lives. It's a choice that not only injures our relationship with that person, but also with God.
When God says, "Don't criticize," it's not because He is trying to deprive us of some satisfactory experience. He is saying, "That goes against the nature of who I have made you to be." Fish were made to swim, birds to fly, people to live in fellowship with God. When we sin, we break our fellowship with God. We hinder our human happiness, & life becomes like a wilderness. A critical attitude breaks our fellowship with God. I've been paid for in FULL 10:45 PM