Love Versus a Critical Spirit
The “charity checklist” in 1 Corinthians 13 says Love is patient and kind, love makes no parade, it gives itself no airs, it is not boastful or proud. Love is never rude, it is never envious, never resentful. Love does not seek to reward itself. Love is not easily provoked. Love thinks no evil of others and keeps no record of wrongs. Love is always eager to believe the best of others. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things… Love never fails.
In any church assembly there are two kinds of people: Christians who know Jesus and non-Christians who don’t. Among the Christians there are also two kinds of people: those who have received salvation and follow Christ casually and those who are committed to follow Christ from a heart of unconditional love. Casual Christians who still think as a child have not grown up into the heart of the love of God. These “baby” Christians love conditionally and have not committed themselves to become like their Lord. Only those committed to the truth will we be set free. Only those committed to follow Christ from a heart of unconditional love will experience the fullness of the joy of the Lord.
If we’re on a performance based system, we will never enter into the love of God. There is nothing that we can do to deserve God’s love. The love of God is unconditional…it is not contingent on our performance. The world’s love is conditional on whether the other person performs… on whether one party hurts the other party. This type of love is doomed to failure. It is here today and gone tomorrow. Conditional love, even in a marriage relationship will fail. However, the love of God keeps no record of wrongs done. The love of God will overcome all obstacles. This type of love requires that we surrender our hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ. To love others unconditionally we must meet each other at the foot of the cross. Love endures only when we love unconditionally with the love of Christ in us. Unconditional love requires that I give up my own “human” rights in order to surrender to the righteousness of God in Him.
A critical spirit will break up any relationship. It blinds our eyes to everything that is attractive in the other person. “Falling out of love” is a deliberate intentional act of the will to turn against the other party. However the love of God thinks no evil of others. It keeps no record of wrongs done. It has the capacity to persist even when there is no reciprocal response from the other person. A critical spirit must be fed.. Focusing on how the other person has “violated my human rights” will result in contempt and resentment. In contrast the love of God gives gladly and its reward is in the pure loving act of giving. The love of God says “forgive her even though she’s done nothing to deserve forgiveness.” God says that the marriage relationship according to his Word is the picture of Christ and the Church. Jesus Christ loved unconditionally those whom God would call and he endured the cross because of the joy set before him… His joy was your redemption and mine. According to Ephesians 5: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
God has revealed his truth to everyone through the glory of the handiwork of His creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Even the Devils believe and tremble. However, the devil is the deceiver and the accuser. His critical spirit deceives us to question God and his motives. He distracts from the glory of our sovereign God by telling us that the purpose of our life is to be “self actualized” with the emphasis on self. The original sin is when Eve believed the devil’s lie that “ye shall be as God… God’s not God, you are.”
Although my heart says it’s hard to surrender, the spiritual love of God says that surrendering to his will is my only option. As Peter said, “to whom else shall we go Lord? Only thou hast the words of eternal life.” In Matthew 11 Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The ultimate freedom is the ultimate captivity… for ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. From the heart of Christ in us, our first priority is “make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free.”
Therefore, delight thyself also in the Lord and he will give thee the desires of thy heart. When we “set our affections on things above” and deliberately make his delight our delight, then God will work in us and through us to will and to do of his good pleasure. Prayer is aligning our heart with his heart… aligning our good pleasure with his good pleasure. Our joy is in the the next step in the journey of life: I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me. The joy is to live by faith and to let go and let God work his miracles in our lives. A heart of love and gratitude will defeat the critical spirit in everything we say and do. God calls us to surrender under the shadow of his mighty hand…this is the doorway to the more than abundant life. As the prophet Micah said, but what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Living under God’s grace, forgiveness, and loving kindness is living in the joy of the Lord.
The two kinds of Christians are “carnal” Christians who walk according to the flesh and spiritual Christians who walk according to the Love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. Jesus said, “In this shall they know that ye are my disciples, that they love one another.” The love of God suffers long and is kind. It gives unconditionally and forgives the unforgivable. To know the love of God and the joy of the Lord, I forgave and set the prisoner free only to find that the prisoner was me.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael