I am a perfectionist and tend to be very critical. Of others. Of myself. And I hate it. I have been working on changing this for a long time with God's help, but for me it is such a hard habit to break.
I think it's hard for me to get past for a couple of reasons. 1) I justify my actions by telling myself I really just want to help. Yes, I am loving and I do want to help, but that is not the place my thoughts toward others start and I know that. It starts when people do things differently than they should do them. I use my Bible knowledge to assess what others should and shouldn't do and it is bad. Not something I am proud of. 2) In general when I share my critical thoughts with others (about someone else), people usually agree with me and once again I am justified for what I think. As if some benefit is being gained by being critical.
It is very hard for me to respect people as leaders or authority when I can clearly see their faults and it irritates me. I know, we all have faults but somehow I hold others to my standard and not God's standard. Don't get me wrong, there are somethings that are just black and white that God asks from us, but there are other areas where God deals individually and I have a hard time when people don't make choices like I think they should.
I know this is wrong but I am a work in progress and God is helping me see people through his eyes of love and compassion and not through my critical eyes. One of the things that is helping me break this habit is praying for those I am the most critical of. I learned long ago that praying for people is allowing God to give me a burden for them and to see them as he does and it really changes me in the process.
Let me take this opportunity to apologize to anyone I may have hurt unknowingly. I know that being critical also means I say things without thinking about them, a lot. I never intend to hurt anyone, so please forgive me. Have grace on me and pray for me as I am a work in progress.
"He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be...How loving and patient he must be. He's still working on me."
1 comment:
Love you too Sandra and we are all a work in progress-thought it doe3s seem sometimes its one step forward and two back-He still loves us. Enjoy reading you'lls blogs Thanks for sharing and giving me something to dwell on.
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