A Fast on Criticalness

The Lord continues to deal with me about my critical spirit, convicting me that I have been wrong to judge any person or situation.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. – Matthew 7:1-2 NIV
One morning last week He gave me an assignment: for one day, I was to go on a “fast” from criticism. I was not to criticize anybody about anything.
Into my mind crowded all the usual objections. “But then what happens to value judgments? You Yourself, Lord, spoke of ‘righteous judgment.’ How could society operate without standards and limits?”
All such resistance was brushed aside. “Just obey Me without questioning: an absolute fast on any critical statements for this day.”
As I pondered this assignment, I realized that there was an even humorous side to this kind of fast. What did the Lord want to show me?
For the first half of the day, I simply felt a void, almost as if I had been wiped out as a person. This was especially true at lunch with my husband, Len, my mother, son Jeff, and my secretary, Jeanne Svigney, present. Several topics came up (school prayer, abortion, the ERA amendment) about which I had definite opinions. I listened to the others and kept silent. Barbed comments on the tip of my tongue about certain world leaders were suppressed. In our talkative family, no one seemed to notice.
Bemused, I noticed that my comments were not missed. The federal government, the judicial system, and the institutional church could apparently get along fine without my penetrating observations. But still I didn’t see what this fast on criticism was accomplishing – until mid-afternoon.
For several years,  I had been praying for one talented young man whose life had gotten sidetracked. Perhaps my prayers for him had been too negative. That afternoon, a specific, positive vision for this life was dropped into my mind with God’s unmistakable hallmark on it – joy.
Ideas began to flow in a way I had not experienced in years. Now it was apparent what the Lord wanted me to see. My critical nature had not corrected a single one of the multitudinous things I found fault with. What it had done was to stifle my own creativity – in prayer, in relationships, perhaps even in writing – ideas that He wanted to give me.
Last Sunday night in a Bible study group, I told my day’s fast experiment. The response was startling. Many admitted that criticalness was the chief problem in their offices, or in their marriages, or with their teenage children.
My own character flaw here is not going to be corrected overnight. But in thinking this problem through the past few days, I find the most solid scriptural basis for dealing with it. (The Greek word translated “judge” in King James, becomes “criticize” in Moffatt). All through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sets Himself squarely against our seeing other people and life situations through this negative lens.
What He is showing me so far can be summed up as follows:
1. A critical spirit focuses us on ourselves and makes us unhappy. We lose perspective and humor.
2. A critical spirit blocks the positive creative thoughts God longs to give us.
3. A critical spirit can prevent good relationships between individuals, and often produces retaliatory criticalness.
4. Criticalness blocks the work of the Spirit of God: love, good will, and mercy.
5. Whenever we see something genuinely wrong in another persons’ behavior, rather than criticize him or her directly, or – far worse – gripe about him behind his back, we should ask the Spirit of God to do the correction needed.
Convicted of the true destructiveness of a critical mind-set, on my knees I am repeating this prayer: “Lord, I repent of this sin of judgment. I am deeply sorry for having committed so gross an offense against You and against myself so continually. I claim Your promise of forgiveness and seek a new beginning.”