A Critical Spirit

And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. —Mark 7:2:

Fault finders! Every church has it’s share of those with critical spirits. They seldom, if ever, have a positive word about anything.  The speakers are too loud… The furnace is too hot… The air conditioning is too cool… The preacher is too loud… The sermon is too long… The musicians are not playing together… There are errors in the bulletin… and on and on it goes.

It reminds of a woman who once approached John Wesley and said, “Mr. Wesley, the strings on your tie are much too long. It’s an offense to me!” Wesley asked if any of the ladies present happened to have a pair of scissors in their purse. When the scissors were handed to him, he gave them to this woman and asked her to trim his tie to her liking. After she clipped them off, he asked, “Are you sure they’re all right now?” “Yes, that’s much better.” Wesley then said, “Good. Now, let me have those scissors for a moment. Madam, your tongue is an offense to me. It is too long! Please stick it out … I’d like to trim some of it off.”

Instead of looking for something wrong you can criticize, how about praying for God to bless, in spite of the things you don’t like. Come seeking to be a blessing, and you’ll get a blessing!