May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
I have a critical spirit. There, I said it. I’m not proud of it, and I’ve prayed on a number of occasions for the Lord to change my heart. It’s a slow process. Sometimes, I forget just how critical I can be, and it often takes bumping up against my tendency toward this to remind me.
Recently, I hosted an acquaintance at our home for a couple of days who schooled me on just about everything—including how to load my own dishwasher. “Why do you rinse your dishes first? You know, you don’t have to. In fact, you’re causing more damage to them because…” You get the drift. She wanted to share her expertise on just about everything, including how Chris should park the car. By the time she and her husband left to continue their road trip, I was frazzled and frustrated. I’ve never been one to walk on eggshells, but I had more than a few stuck to the bottom of my shoes as I bid them a safe trip.
Do you ever find yourself reliving an unpleasant experience? It’s like a broken record with the needle stuck in a huge scratch. It just repeats over and over and over again. It didn’t take long for me to believe I’d been mistreated. It felt like I had every right to be put out. However, after a lot of prayer, reflection, and a little venting to Chris, the Holy Spirit reminded me that the only difference between her and me is that I kept my criticisms to myself, and she voiced hers aloud. But my sin is every bit as displeasing to the Lord as hers.
That really got me reflecting on how easy it was to think I’m better than her. All of us are sinners dealing with some degree of brokenness. Pride, greed, lust, envy, glutton, wrath, and sloth. Every one of these Seven Deadly Sins has a way of drawing us into further sin. Some sins are obvious because we can see the results displayed outwardly. But those sins that we keep undercover? They may be hidden from other people—even ourselves—but God knows us more deeply than we can even fathom.
Wednesday nights, Chris and I work with a group of first through sixth graders teaching about the Bible. Last Wednesday, after sharing a story out of Acts (New Testament history division, as the kids are learning), we asked what it meant to be right with God. The kids had a variety of answers (all good), but the bottom line was being aware of not only our actions but our thoughts. How we think about people is just as important as how we treat them.
As I was searching through biblical teachings for examples to share, I came across this article from Touching Lives by Dr. James Merritt. Rather than paraphrase, I thought I’d just share a portion of it with you:
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Matthew 15:19
The Bible tells us in Matthew 15:19 that it begins in our hearts and minds. Before we commit an act of sin, we will think about it. All sin starts in the mind. Reflect on those ideas and thoughts that have occupied your mind already today. Are they Christ-centered? Are you consumed with spiritual growth and serving God? Are you fearful, angry, or depressed? Are your thoughts right now pleasing to God, and what thoughts are leading you away from God?
This is a convicting article, and a great reminder that we cannot be casual about sin—any sin—because that’s where the enemy does his best work. Make us apathetic, and we will be ripe for the taking. It’s like that metaphor for boiling a frog. Put him in tepid water and turn up the heat slowly so he won’t realize he’s being cooked until it’s too late.
So, my critical spirit. How do I break this cycle that has become as much a habit as any addiction? It starts with my thoughts. If someone has an addiction, whether it’s cigarettes, drugs, or even food, it starts with admitting there is a problem. Maybe I need a twelve-step program:
- Admit I have a problem and I’m powerless to manage it on my own.
- Believe that my Lord Jesus Christ can and will change me.
- Turn my will and life over to God.
- Truly seek to know my own heart.
- Admit to God (and someone else I can trust) the nature of my failures.
- Be entirely willing for the Lord to remove my critical spirit.
- Humbly ask God to remove them.
- Make a list of those I’ve hurt with my criticisms.
- Ask those I’ve hurt for forgiveness.
- Continue to take a personal account of my sins and admit failures.
- Seek the knowledge of God and His will for my life.
- In response to the spiritual growth, practice these steps for all my issues.
A little radical? I don’t think so. When I consider that my entire existence is entirely the work and grace of the Lord, it makes me realize that staying steeped in a pattern of sinfulness is unacceptable. Oh, how I long to hear the words someday, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Don’t you?
Comments 2
A very good reminder to get rid of your sinful self. We are all imperfect. So don’t forget Jesus died for our sins, but I agree that we should be mindful of them and practice the 12 steps you have laid out in this blog.
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I will never forget Jesus died for our sins. Even so, we should constantly check ourselves to be sure we are doing what we can to be right with Him.