Thoughts From My First Year as Pastor #3 - The Hardest Criticisms Come When Doing the Right Things

The hardest criticisms I've taken ministry came at times when I was doing what I was supposed to do.

Some of the reasons for this are pretty obvious:

• You expect criticism when you make a bad decision
• You expect criticism when you do something wrong
• You don't expect criticism when you're make wise decisions and following God's commands.

When I've made decisions which I knew were controversial and took criticism, it didn't feel good, but it didn't stick with me. However, unexpected criticism which came out of the blue has stuck with me far more.

Ministry is one place where you will be criticized heavily if you do all the right things.

These are my best guesses as to why:

• When you're doing God's work, you'll face spiritual warfare
• Hurt people hurt people, and you deal with lots of hurt people in ministry
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
• 2 Timothy 3:12 - In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Steven Furtick spoke on something similar to this at the Nine's online conference. He didn't address criticism so much as disappointment in spite of doing what you're called to do.