I just finished reading the two books of the Bible written by Jeremiah. Man was he cutthroat honest about the sins of his people. His words were biting, raw, honest......but his heart was for his people. Ironically, this strong book of Jeremiah was followed by Lamentations; the sorrows of Jeremiah. The prophet who delivered harsh (and fitting) words of judgement for the utter wickedness of his own people was also known as the weeping prophet. I think sometimes we receive some kind of weird gratification from criticizing others. Maybe it makes us feel bigger or smarter. We deliver crass words of judgement without anything redemptive under it. I believe the worst is when christians are critical of other christians or the church. Yes, the church has many problems but she is still the Lord's bride and should be remembered as such. Yes, the people around us have many issues but if we could learn a lesson from Jeremiah it's this......  Be constructively critical only if you will serve what your correcting. Allow your heart to be moved by the things that are broken in other people, or churches or movements and not just critical. It seems the heart in which we correct with will either qualify or disqualify the worth of our message. It takes very little anointing to see the issues in others.
Ginger and I have taken the summer to visit local fellowships to see what the Body of Christ looks like in Auburn. Maybe that's why I've stumbled upon the writings of Jeremiah at the same time. While, the chance to criticize has been present, I think we would miss the entire assignment if I didn't love the church first. Honestly, I'm finding Jesus in every place we've gone. In one place he was in the liturgy, in another, in the communion service. Yet another, we saw Christ in the people as soon as we stepped in the door. Through this entire experiment I'm also seeing things that I want to do differently, ways that I feel Christ is not being expressed. I hope to give life to these expressions of Christ in my own sphere. At the same time, I feel the Lord has strongly cautioned me not to speak evil of others. He takes this personally and it would ultimately disqualify me to be the expression he wants me to be. In the book of Revelation, Jesus brings correction to seven different churches. Each of them he died for. He corrected those whom he had already laid down his life for. Proverbs says "wounds from a friend can be trusted," probably because "a friend loves at all times." The Accuser himself criticizes can see issues and does but the One whom we imitate corrects in concern, in compassion and with a heart to serve. | 
