Critical Monster

I posted this last year, but this truth has rung true for me again and I felt like I needed to share it again. God is convicting me today, who is praying for me!! Oh my word. Wheew!
I realize that sometimes I am very critical of people, in the devotion for My Utmost For His Highest, "Beware of Criticizing Others." It's a pride problem; hubris. Uh-oh...so guilty. We all have expectations from people, and how the church should run. Lately, I've heard a lot of criticism about the church, and I will confess that I have taken part in nit picking and saying things about my church. But it's not right, at all. It's down right shameful and a disgrace to our Father. I never saw it as being judgmental though, but that is exactly what it is. Oswald Chambers says when we get that way, "It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person. What is more, There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself ." That really bites...yikes! Every last one of you reading this post is guilty of finding fault in others. But the difference is how we react to it. This is something that I have really been struggling with lately. My family had to remind me that sometimes we just have to put our spiritual blinders on to the things that we don't particularly agree with. We can't go looking for trouble. If something happens talk to someone, keep it in perspective. Don't blow things way out of proportion.
I was reading in Nehemiah 9:3 "The Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read to them for 3 hours. Then for three more hours they took turns confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord their God." I was very moved by this verse. Just last Thursday I was in church being preached too all day. I loved it! How cool to be in the presence of our brothers and sisters in Christ confessing to each other our shortcomings, and failures. I think we become more real to the other person when we can open up like that. All of a sudden we realize we don't have any place to criticize each other, but rather encourage and build each other up. Just like when we are together and study God's word in church, the alter call is meant for confession. Reading and studying God's word should precede confession because God can show us where we are sinning. I'm glad that once again I have been convicted of this, and for the people who pray for me. I am thankful that even though I act monsterous they still love me. So ya'll keep praying for me, and I'm praying for you!