March 29, 2012 | Leave a comment Today, Thursday March 29, 2012, is the thirty-fourth day of preparing our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday. Today I need to “put off” having a critical spirit and “put on” kindness. 2 That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. Matthew 7:2 (The Message) Satan will use this critical spirit to present many temptations in my life. He wants me to exaggerate today’s problems and thereby diminish my resolve to keep my eye on the ultimate goal of finishing my life strong. Evidences of this critical spirit at work in my life include the four emotional cancers of; Complaint Comparison Criticism Competition It is because these emotional cancers are so common and so ever present in our lives that you and I need to “put off” having a critical spirit and “put on” kindness. As I have struggled with fighting these all too common temptations in my own life I have learned from Charles Swindoll that my eyes will be focused at all times on one of four places: If my eyes are focused on my circumstances, I will experience instability, because my emotional life will go up and down with whatever current circumstance I face. If my eyes are focused on others you I will experience disappointment because inevitably I will be hurt and disappointed by those around me. If my eyes are focused on myself I will experience emptiness because there is nothing more unfulfilling than one’s life wrapped up in itself. If my eyes are focused on Jesus, however, I will experience wholeness because only Jesus can pardon my past, empower my present, and provide for my future. According to Paul the whole law is fulfilled in loving my neighbor as myself. 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:13–15 (ESV) This sounds like our needing to “put on” kindness, because neither you nor I need devour one another lest we be consumed. This process of “putting on” kindness requires our spiritual growth. A great mistake which Christians make is to assume their spiritual growth will be automatic. Listen to the writer of Hebrews. 11 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. 12 By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! 13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; 14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. 1 So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; 2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. 3 God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it! Hebrews 5:11–6:3 (The Message) Jim Wilson of the California SBC says that here the writer of Hebrews is urging his readers to grow spiritually; mastering the basics and enjoy solid food. Each of us need to sharpen our ears and prepare for growth. When you hear someone teach you have the same responsibility to learn that the teacher has to be prepared to teach. Jim suggests 4 things each of us should do to prepare ourselves to learn: Pray. Pray for the speaker and pray for ourselves and the other participants. Check our critical spirit. We cannot learn from someone who we are constantly evaluating and criticizing. Be prepared to teach others what we’ve learned. Be prepared to make immediate application of what we’ve learned. After all, we really haven’t learned it, if we don’t do it. When I have “put off” my critical spirit and “put on” kindness I prepare myself to grow spiritually and learn from those who can teach me more so that I can grow even more. To fail in this regard will cause me to become consumed by these emotional cancers and result in my remaining immature and unable to be fully and effectively used by God.