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Monday, August 29, 2011

Handling Criticism

Last Monday we focused on "Handling Criticism."  We saw an example of criticism from Acts 11 and how Peter handled his critics.  God gives us wisdom through His word and we can learn from it how to face similar situation to that of Peter's.  Providing all the facts regarding the issues we are questioned about can help clarify any misunderstanding or confusion.  We should strive to get all the facts straight from the interested party, in order to learn exactly what has taken place, before jumping to conclusions.


Here are the notes of our study.


August 22, 2011
Handling Criticism
Opening Question: Have you ever been criticized and what was your reaction to the criticism, whether warranted or not?
No matter how well we perform in our life, sometimes we may face criticism.  At times, this criticism may be deserved – if we made a mistake or did something wrong.  Other times, the criticism may be out of place or because the critics have misunderstood or are misusing some information.
Today we are going to look at a story from the Bible and see what does the Bible have to say about how to handle criticism.
The story is found in Acts 11.  Let us read verses 1-4: 1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.  2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him  3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”  4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:
The criticism that Peter faced came from the events that took place in Acts 10, some of which we studied the last time.  Peter had seen a vision, the Spirit had instructed him to go and visit Cornelius, which had seen an angel of God and had sent men to ask for Peter.  However, the critics only focused on a small part of the story and on the one that had to do more with the outward appearance, the form, rather than the essence of the story – which was that the non-Jews had now received salvation in the same way as the Jews.
What was Peter’s response to them?
In verse 4, we read that Peter told them the whole story. 
The way to respond to criticism is to inform the critics about all the facts, the entire story, not just a fragment of the truth, but the whole truth.  This is what Peter does, so that the people can know directly from him what happened and, after knowing all the facts, directly from Peter, now from someone else, they can make a decision.
The rest of the chapter is a recount of the story that we studied, from Acts 10.  This is done so everyone opposing Peter can hear and know what happened and what were the circumstances that led him into the house of the “uncircumcised men.”


What are our lessons here for us today?
1.         When criticized, educate the critics about all the facts.
2.         Changes may be necessary in your life in order to get to know God
Hebrews and people from other nations did not have much association with each-other.  These were traditions of men, not of God, that were put in place to supposedly keep the nation of Israel pure and dedicated to God.  However, this lack of relationship prevented the apostles and the believers from bringing the Good News all the people of the world, not just the Hebrews.
When God made it clear to Peter and the other believers that they were to go to everyone, not just the Hebrews, this was a big change for them.  Everyone they knew was a Hebrew, everyone they had relations with was a Hebrews, they did not have friends, relatives, business associates who did not belong to the same nation as them.
We may be facing some changes in our life in order to get to know God and it may take some effort and some time in order to realize that these changes are needed and to actually be able to do those changes.
3.         You may be facing criticism because of your choice to follow God.
In the same way that some people did not like what Peter did, our friends or relatives or acquaintances may not like what we do in order to follow God.  We may be facing some criticism about why we are acting in the way we are or why we are not doing some of the things we used to, before we decided to make changes in our life.  We should be prepared to give a response to such people.
In verse 18, we read the good ending to this story: 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
When in doubt about the actions or the non-actions of someone, it is important to address those concerns with the interested person.  Many times, issues are blown out of proportions simply because the conversation does not take place with the person who has the answers.  Instead of talking to other people about what you have heard happened, it is always better to talk to the interested party, Peter, in this case, to hear from him what exactly happened.  Notice that the critics did not go and talk to the other apostles or to someone else who may have heard about what happened.  They talked to Peter himself, against whom they had the criticism.
Another lesson for us from this verse: Talk to the people when you have concerns about their behavior.  Many times a simple chat can clarify many misunderstandings.
Conclusions
Criticism is a part of our life and we need to learn how to handle it.  God gives us His wisdom through His word.  Whenever we are faced with criticism, if we provide all the facts of the matter, this can help toward clarifying any misunderstanding or confusion.  At all times it is advisable to get the facts straight from the interested party, in order to hear exactly what has taken place, which may help up in our accurate understanding of the events.

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