Sometimes positive people are annoying. Yesterday’s entry shows me why I think so. When I want to complain, they see the up-side of things, or when I want to criticize something negative, they see the positive. I want them to support my view, not make me feel guilty for pointing out something I think is not right.
The Apostle Paul managed a balance. When something was wrong in the church, he hit it head on, yet he often saw the bigger picture and a positive reason for what was happening. Consider 1 Corinthians 11:17-19: “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.”
He challenged these early Christians at the church at Corinth for in-fighting. They had unity in Christ, but choose fleshy responses instead. As a result they made sinful decisions and wound up divided instead of united. Most of the two letters Paul wrote to them were about their bad behavior.
Yet in this section, he makes reference to God’s purpose in allowing factions. He says that these departures from true Christian living would reveal who was genuine and who was not. If they were paying attention, those believers should have hollered ‘uncle’ at that point.
Jesus gave onlookers one legitimate reason to judge if Christians were genuine: Do they love one another? (See John 13). If we squabble and hurt each other, the world has every right to say we don’t have it, we are not the real thing. That alone should be enough to smarten us up.
Did it work for the people of Corinth? Did Paul’s rebuke make them realize the folly of in-fighting and the harm it was doing to their credibility? In his second letter, he said, “This will be the third time I am coming to you . . . Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test ourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”
Like them, I am slow to learn the difference between criticism and a critical spirit. Paul wanted these people to change, to grow, to be right with God and one another. He criticized them to point out their error. He saw that God was trying to show them that some of them were not as they ought to be, and his purpose in doing it fit in with God’s purpose.
Paul did not have a critical spirit. He did not like to complain, throw a wet blanket on everything, and see as many negatives as possible. If someone came along with a positive remark, a thankful attitude, or a gracious way of looking at things, Paul didn’t feel like putting a hand over their mouth.
He himself was “qualified” in that he was not ignorant of problems, but instead of merely grumbling, he confronted the issues with something like: “You know this is wrong, and you know this is how things should be. What can we do to make things right?”
I’m thinking I can easily take the first step, but most times miss the second one, merely because grumbling is easier than fixing the problem.
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