Never Surrender Your Dream to Noisy Negatives

By John Mason

Nobody can ever make you feel average without your permission. Ingratitude and
criticism are going to come; they are part of the price you pay for leaping past
mediocrity. When you make your mark in life you'll always attract erasers.

Jesus Himself, after healing the ten lepers, was thanked by only one of them (Luke
17:11-19). Learn to expect ingratitude.

If you move with God, you will be criticized. The only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing and be nothing. Those who do things inevitably stir up criticism.

The Bible offers this great promise concerning criticism: The truth always
outlives a lie. This fact is backed by Proverbs 12:19. "The lip of truth shall be
established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment." Also, in Hebrews 13:6
we are told that we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what
man shall do unto me."

Never judge people by what is said about them by their enemies. Kenneth Tynan has
provided the best description of a critic I have ever heard. "A critic," he said, "is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car."

We are not called to respond to criticism; we are called to respond to God. It's the
still small voice we should heed, not the deafening blasts of doom. Often criticism will present the best platform from which to proclaim the truth.

Most of the time, people who are critical are either jealous or uninformed. They usually say things that have no impact whatsoever upon truth. There's a famous anonymous saying that describes this situation perfectly: "It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion." If what you say and do is of God, it will not make any difference if every other person on the face of the earth criticizes you. Likewise, if what you are doing is not of God, nothing other people say will make it right.

Pay no attention to negative criticism. "Trust in the Lord, and do good" (Ps. 37:3),
knowing that in the end what you do in the Lord will be rewarded.
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