“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.” – Proverbs 12:1
Have you ever said, “Lord, change me” and then rejected the criticism of your neighbor? Now I don’t mean the kind of criticism that is said with a spiteful attitude and primarily about something temporary or physical. No, I mean the kind of criticism that hits a nerve because you know it’s true but don’t want to really listen because it would be too hard to do. The kind of criticism that could get you that “A” on a paper or be a more visible representative for Christ. Are you willing to open yourself up to other people for correction or are you planning to be mulish all your life? We can’t improve if we don’t know what needs to fix.
Also, stop fencing yourself in with excuses about your past failures. Your past cannot dictate who you are unless you choose to give in to it and the “oh woe is me” attitude that goes along with it. Now don’t get me wrong…some things that happen in people’s pasts hurt and have had an enormous effect on who they’ve become. But do you honestly think that you’re useless because of something that happened yesterday or fifteen years ago? Of course not!
God loves each and ever cracked, bruised and broken piece of us because they make us even more unique and better vessels for him to pour out life and healing in the cracked, bruised and broken world that we live in. If we don’t have these experiences, we can’t relate; and what is a ministry that doesn’t cross the boundary between heaven and the earth? We are the messengers. Your failings are the kinex that God uses to branch out with.
So the next time you ask God to “change you” if it’s really something that needs to be changes, listen to the criticism that he imparts to you through your neighbors and if it’s not, thank him for another opportunity to shine for him and pour out his healing into the lives of your fellow battered.
neumatikos 