Critical comments drive me insane. Like, I cannot stand it
when people follow some shallow compliment with a “….but,” and then go on a
rant of displeasure that far exceeds the compliment that they just
half-heartedly gave. We live in a world of critics and people pointing fingers
and casting blame. I have been there with the best of them, but I know that
recently, my heart has been more attune to notice criticism in my own life and
try to find the positive in situations that are far from pleasant. I have not
been perfect at it and the battles are many. However, I feel like the issue
needs to be addressed.
I’ve noticed a trend at Liberty. We spend so much time
entrenched in doctrine and teaching that is good for us, but as C.S. Lewis puts
it, “One of the things Christians are disagreed about is the importance of
their disagreements”. A majority of the students here will be in agreement over
how a person is saved or the inerrancy, infallibility, and inspiration of
Scripture. We will talk until the sun comes up about grace and mercy and how
wonderful and scandalous the love of Jesus is, but we will talk more about
predestination or free will. We will talk and argue about a literal or
spiritual rapture and things that are OK to debate, but not OK to stake our
beliefs on. Things that do not and will not change the message of the Gospel
and things that do not and will not change the fact that we are ONE body
UNIFIED in Christ.
I’ve noticed a lot of people, myself included, discrediting
people because we don’t agree with these “outlier” issues. We are telling other
members of the Body of Christ that they are not good enough for “our body”, but
that they should try out the “body down the street” because they are more
likeminded. It is unbiblical to behave this way. It causes separation where God
meant unity. Church is not a club. Grace is not exclusive. All we need is the
Gospel. We forget sometimes that that is where we started. I do it. We need not
be so quick to forget that we were not a neat and clean package full of deep
theology when grace found us. We were, and still are, a mess, a mess that is
covered by grace and seen as beautiful through Christ and His sacrifice, but a
mess nonetheless.
I believe that this issue of criticism is rooted in our
consumerist behavior. Church has become a place where we go to benefit us. If a
preacher teaches or speaks in a way that we don’t “learn best from” we walk
away saying that we didn’t “get anything” from the service neglecting the fact
we just experienced one of God’s greatest blessings, the Body of Christ. If the
worship pastor didn’t play our “favorite” song that morning, we walk away feeling
dissatisfied with the entire service. I know that is my biggest struggle. I
love music and I love worship so if I feel something is missing, my entire
attitude about the service shifts.
When did church become a self-serving activity and not an
act of worship? When did it become about what was good or bad for us and not
about what the Lord had for us? And how do we get it back to its purpose?
