Both are dangerous.
Compliment can make us steal God's glory. ("Yes, I am good!")
Criticism can discourage us to the point that we went down to bitterness or make us quit. ("I can't stand it!")
So... Be aware of both!
But both can also be good.
Compliment can give you opportunity to testify of God's goodness. ("It is not me, but God" - must say it with both our mouth and our heart, beware of hypocrisy!)
Criticism, if they are constructive ones, can actually lead to awareness of our weaknesses, motivate us to improve and make us be more depending of God.
So... Embrace both! :)
Why am I suddenly thinking about compliments? Because lately I have been showered with lots of compliments. A good subject rep, a good testimony, good teen ministry, good this, good that. Sometimes I feel so tired. Why? Because everytime people compliment me, I need to take time to check myself whether I'm giving the glory back to God or not.
Of course I can't blame others for giving me compliments. I believe they have good intention, which is to encourage me to keep doing good work. But how I process compliments and how they affected me also get me to think that I should also be careful in receiving compliments and in giving compliments to others because compliments can destroy a person instead of building them.
And why am I suddenly thinking about criticism? Because lately me and my friends have been giving a lot of criticism to others, especially pastors and lecturers. This pastor can't preach well. That pastor is very weak in pastoral care. This lecturer don't know what he is talking about.
And it hit me. I realise one day I will stand on the pulpit preaching and many people will comment on my sermon. Or maybe one day I will stand in front of the class teaching and my students will talk about how they are disappointed with how I teach or my incapabilities to teach.
Am I afraid? I don't think I should. I know it will be tough, but hopefully, by God's grace, I can ignore "bad" criticism and embrace "good" one. I've seen people doing that. Nothing is impossible with God.
Will I keep criticising others? Yes. But with caution. I will try to give "good" criticism (feedback). And I will find balance between criticising (giving feedback to others) and criticising myself.
God, help me.
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