Thursday 2-28-08 "Criticism"

Greetings Internet Campus,

Mark 2:5-10b (NLT2): “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” 6but some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7”what is He saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 8Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so He asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.”

Today we are going to look at one of my favorite topics...criticism. Let's look at today's passage. Here we have a paralyzed man lowered down through the roof in front of Jesus. Jesus stops what He is saying and addresses the situation at hand. He tells the paralytic...."My child, your sins are forgiven" I love that. Jesus could have said "You're healed" or "Get up" He didn't. He forgave the man's sins because of his faith.

Of course this didn't sit well with those that thought they knew the laws better than Jesus. They accused Him of blasphemy. They thought that only God can forgive sins. They were right. What they were missing in this story, is that God was sitting right next to them. They were critical of Jesus because they were ignorant of the reality of the situation.

Ever done that?

Have you ever been critical of someone or something and realized later that you had it all wrong? Maybe you didn't have all the facts right...maybe you thought you knew more than the person you were critical of....only later to find out that they were right.

Have you ever been the victim of criticism when you KNOW you are right? Imagine Jesus sitting there....hearing the word blasphemy....and realizing that this criticism was unfounded and ignorant.

But, like Jesus always did, He handled the criticism gracefully. He gently corrected the men knowing full well that they deserved a stronger rebuke. That's my challenge to you today...handle criticism with kindness. Show grace to those that try to tear down what you are doing. Extend love rather than sarcasm.

How we handle our critics tells a lot about what we believe about God's grace towards us.

Write it Down: Do you handle criticism well? In your journal, write down one person that constantly criticizes you...pray for them.

See you on Friday!
Pastor Brian