Holy Grit — Handling Criticism with Humility - Friday
Today’s Verse
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (NIV)
Parenting teenagers is a unique season of life. Some days you’re beaming with pride over your child… and the next moment you’re pulling your hair out with frustration. For my son, those frustrating “pull my hair out” moments typically involve school work and grades.
Let me set up the situation before you start sending me angry letters. When he transitioned from 8th to 9th grade, his school stopped sending us his assignments and started making him responsible for them. What we were sent instead were emails whenever he got a bad grade or had a missing assignment. Let’s just say the transition between 8th and 9th was challenging… and we received a lot of emails.
Every time we saw one of those emails, I’d go talk to him. What started out as a reminder soon changed to an annoyed reminder, to frustration, and eventually to anger. I’ll never forget the night I sat down with him (probably the third or fourth day in a row) and got on him about his bad grade. He was clearly emotional and frustrated, too. Eventually, we got to a point in our heated exchange where he said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything good enough for you.”
It was a gut punch. At that moment, I had crossed the line between discipline and discouragement. I was no longer helping him get better, I was simply scolding him whenever he did something wrong. And worse still, I never encouraged him when he did things well. Thankfully, I learned from that moment, and I think I’ve done a lot better since then.
In the same way, I am willing to bet that each one of us knows someone who seems to have nothing good to say to us. Maybe it’s a boss who seems bent on making your life miserable. Maybe it’s a parent who has expectations you can never reach. Maybe it’s a friend whose comments always seem to have a bite to them.
In those moments, remember this verse. We will have trouble in this world. We were never promised an easy life. Just the opposite. But we can rest in the promise that God is in control and He has already overcome the world.
Those people who have nothing nice to say will always be in your life. Don’t let their words pierce your heart. Don’t let them change your view of how God sees you. And don’t let their discouragement weigh you down.
REFLECTION
If you have someone in mind, commit to pray for your “discourager” every day. Pray that they will experience the love and forgiveness you have experienced in Christ. And then look for ways to encourage them.