Perspective & Grace

I recently took some criticism over my article entitled "Do Pastors Get Paid to Study?" This criticism came from someone I believed to be a friend at my former ministry. I decided when I received that criticism that I would meditate on it for a good while before I ever commented on it. Sometimes I have noticed that I can become a bit too reactionary at times when criticism comes my way. That is one of my personality flaws that I am desperately working on. I realized through this how imperfect I still am.

The reason that I am so grateful to Jesus is the grace He extended me when I became a Christian. My life was a good representation of what it was like to live for SELF. Even though I have found peace with God I know that there is so much work to be done. All of us are going to be criticized by other people and we need to learn to not respond quickly to what has been said. Usually when it comes it is based on someones perspective which might not include all of the details about a situation. As a Christian how you respond to others can reveal your level of maturity. A person who has been impacted by grace will learn to move forward and grow from the way they were criticized. You might be mad at first, but at some point you have also been on the other end of things as well. Grace is one of the biggest elements that is missing in our fellowships. We have an expectation of God's grace every time we mess things up, but many times we are not willing to extend grace to others for words used against us. If you appreciate what the Cross accomplished for you then start extending grace to everyone around you.......even when you think that it is not deserved. After all that is exactly how Jesus treats us every time we go running to Him.