John Smith went to church one Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenager talking when everybody was supposed to be bowed in silent prayer. He felt like an usher was watching to see what he put into the offering plate, and it made him boil. He caught five grammatical errors in the sermon. As he slipped out through the side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, “Never again! What a bunch of clods and hypocrites!”
Jack Jones went to church one Sunday morning. He heard the organist play an arrangement of “A Might Fortress,” and he thrilled at the majesty of it. He heard a young girl take a moment in the service to speak of the difference her faith makes in her life. He was glad to see that his church was sharing in a special offering for the hungry children of Nigeria. He especially appreciated the sermon that Sunday—it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. He thought, as he walked through the doors of the church, “How can a man enter this place and not feel the presence of God?”
Both men went to the same church on the same Sunday morning. Each found what he was looking for. What will you find next Sunday? (Copied)
None of us like criticism directed to us or our efforts; but most of us understand what was meant by the motto: “If you can’t say anything good about a person, let’s hear it.” We too often don’t mind criticizing others, nor do we mind hearing others criticize others.
Abraham Lincoln said, “If I tried to read much less answer all the criticisms made of me, and all the attacks leveled against me, this office would have to be closed for all other business. I do the best I can. And I mean to keep on doing this, down to the very end. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I had been right would make no difference. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me now will not amount to anything.”
“My dear boy,” said a father, “take a word of advice from an old man who loves peace. An insult is like mud; it will brush off much better when it is dry. Wait a little, till he and you are both cool, and the thing will be easily mended. If you go now, it will only be to quarrel.” Good advice for all when our patience is put to the test.
The eighteenth-century English evangelist John Wesley became concerned about wasting good time over less than wholesome talk, so he and eleven of his fellow preachers entered into the following covenant, which they each signed: “It is agreed by those whose names are underwritten that (1) We will not listen, or willingly inquire after any ill concerning each other; (2) If we do hear any ill of each other, we will not be forward to believe it; (3) As soon as possible, we will communicate what we heard by speaking or writing to the person concerned; (4) Until we have done this, we will not write or speak a syllable of it to any other person whatever; (5) Neither will we mention it after we have done this to any other person; (6) We will not make any exception to any of these rules, unless we think ourselves absolutely obliged in conscience to do so.” (Quoted by Leslie Parrott in The Power of Your Attitudes.)
One of America’s beloved poets aptly wrote: “I watched them tearing a building down, a gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell, they swung a beam and a side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, ‘Are these men skilled? And the men you’d hire if you had to build?’
He gave a laugh and said ‘No indeed! Just common labor is all I need. I can easily wreck in a day or two what builders have taken a year to do.’
And I thought to myself as I went my way, which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care, measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan, patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker, who walks to town, content with the labor of tearing down?” (Edgar Guest)
The building of the Panama Canal brought many challenges to George Washington Goethals as he was in midst of the toilsome task. He had more than enough critics scrutinizing his work, picking it apart, criticizing his progress, and prophesying that the canal would never come to completion. Someone once asked the builder if he were not going to answer his critics, to which Goethals replied, “In time.” “How?” The master builder replied simply, “With the canal.” (Stephen Olford, “God’s Refining Cleansing Fire,” Charisma, April 1984)
“For with the same judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matthew 7:2)
YOU and GOD 