Criticism. I face it everyday and always has that question - how do you handle criticism?
I have no template on how to, or exact answers, but I will share my personal approach to criticism as informed by experience, extensive reading and biblical teaching.
Am certain from that I will share, you can draw your own approach and share it too.
Criticism is a worker’s best gift.
Moses got there too. He had freed guys from slavery he had made them cross the Red sea as if there was no danger. He had gotten water from a rock, fed them with Manna and even saved them from poisonous snakes.
But they still criticized him and ‘His God’ and at one point he cried to the lord, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” (Exodus 17.4)
Interestingly, before they can award you a degree in divinity, you have to be schooled in Bible criticism.
An Uncle who holds a Masters in Divinity tells me his critic in support of African Theology, was on what he calls Western Culture presented as Christian life.
“Why do they want to tell us about a vineyard? When I preach in Maasai land the language they understand is Cattle. Instead of Jesus turned water into wine, he changed water into milk. Jesus preached according to examples people can relate to, we must spread the gospel in the same manner” he argues.
My father once told me they went to a remote village in Kenya to teach about Malaria and in their creativity they carved out a large image of a mosquito.
When they concluded their baraza they invited questions and one old man gave them feedback, “ we have heard you and are happy; but we can assure you that Malaria will never come to us, our mosquitoes are not as big as yours (Referring to the model image of a mosquito)”
Bishop Stephen Neill, puts it bluntly, "Criticism is the manure in which the Lord's servants grow best."
Winston Churchill put it in a more comprehensive way, ““Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”
J. C. Penney wrote a book entitled What an Executive Should Know about Himself. He asked this question: "Can you take criticism?" Then he quoted Chicago department store magnate Marshall Field.
Those who enter to buy, support me.
Those who come to flatter, please me.
Those who complain, teach me how I may please others so that more will come.
A girl and boy used to argue about everything. Their teacher placed them in two different corners and placed a ball in the middle. The Teacher asked them what colour was the ball.
The boy was quick “its black”
The Girl retorted, “That is stupid, everyone can see the ball is white”
The teacher then swapped them from their positions.
They gave opposite answers from the first. The ball was half black and half white, their answers depended on their point of view.
Sometimes criticism is not always right, partly because some people do not have the whole picture.
Learn to listen to criticism, most times you will get something you need to improve. Negative criticism should not stop you from seeing positive critic.
I personally get criticized on social media for various things, some true and some not true, I have learnt one crucial lesson, to accept the fact that we are not perfect and so the imperfect bit of us will always be under scrutiny.
Ultimately, do not let criticism bring you down, smile and create the next content. If you go silent you will either be criticized or people will simply celebrate that you did.
The right attitude is take the lessons from your previous creation and create the next, that way you give the critics a job to live a minute behind you, since they can only criticize what you created in the past as you march to the future.
Norman Vincent Peale held that, “The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”
My personal favourite is the attitude that, “they only criticize the person with the ball, you must have the ball to be criticized, are you facing criticism then you have the ball. They only cheer or jeer the person on the track, ignore them and focus on the finishing line”
As for critics, or even those of us who are quick to criticize or even dismiss anything, I encourage and challenge you to research your topics. React to build each other not merely dismiss or destroy arguments.
Paul had the perfect conclusion, in 2 Timothy 4.7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Share this with as many people as you can, we all need to know how to handle criticism.
God Bless You and Keep You
Thanks