Critcism

Proverbs 29:1 (NLT)
1 Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

The Reverend Matthew Henry wrote, “The obstinacy of many wicked people in a wicked way is to be greatly lamented. They are often reproved by parents and friends, by magistrates and ministers, by the providence of God and by their own consciences, have had their sins set in order before them and fair warning given them of the consequences of them, but all in vain; they harden their necks. Perhaps they fling away, and will not so much as give the reproof a patient hearing; or, if they do, yet they go on in the sins for which they are reproved; they will not bow their necks to the yoke, but are children of Belial; they refuse reproof , despise it, hate it. They shall be suddenly destroyed, in the midst of their security, and without remedy; they have sinned against the preventing remedy, and therefore let them not expect any recovering remedy.

There are two types of criticism we usually deal with in life, negative criticism and constructive criticism. Negative criticism is when someone voices an opinion towards us with the purpose of showing that something is simply wrong, false, mistaken, nonsensical, objectionable, disreputable or evil. It is generally interpreted as an attack towards us. Constructive criticism aims to show that the intent or purpose of something is better served by an alternative approach. In this case, the target of criticism is not necessarily deemed wrong, and its purpose is respected; rather, it is claimed that the same goal could be better achieved via a different route. For some of us any form of criticism is painful because it is directed at our self-esteem which may make us feel devalued. However King Solomon says we should accept the words of criticism and not refuse it when it is given to us. In other words we should listen to others opinions, but use the wisdom God has given us to discern what is true and what is not. Listening never hurts. In fact the Bible tells us we should be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger giving time to weight the evidence before us and apply what is necessary to our lives.