Criticism

If you are truly committed to the Lord and not ashamed of it, you will be criticized.  And you will even be criticized from some of the people you go to church with.  I have been criticized in and out of church for my stance with the Lord.  Sometimes I get so excited in church that I say, “Praise the Lord,” or something to that effect, out loud and sometimes someone will look at me like I am strange.  I have said this before, that I was a freak in the world and now I am a freak for Jesus.  At the end of many of my blogs I will say, “Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord, for He is worthy,” and I mean that sincerely. 

It seems like there are people in the church that don’t understand that God inhabits the praise of His people, in other words, He loves it when we praise Him.  I kind of look at this like an empty building, maybe a church building, and when the people enter that building they then inhabit that building.  When we praise the Lord, the Lord comes in and inhabits it and He is pleased with it if it is truly from the heart.  Some of our problem today is that praise can get to be mechanical and not sincere, just kind of going through the motions, so to speak.  Sometimes people mouth words and they don’t even think about what they are singing, they just sing whatever the words are.  Sometimes we can sing praise songs and have our minds on everything else that is going on in the church and not on the Lord at all, just going through the motions.

I was listening to Pastor Cymbala this morning and he was talking about the woman with the Alabaster Jar, so I thought I would use her story also.  You can find her story in Mark 14, read verses 3-9, “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Even though this lady was a prostitute, she loved Jesus and she wasn’t ashamed of what she was about to do for him.  She didn’t think about the cost and this perfume, which was very costly, I think it was worth a year’s wages.  She not only loved Him but she worshiped Him and she wasn’t thinking about who was there or what they would think, she worshiped Him.  She did what Simon should have done for Jesus, but didn’t.  And what happened?  She was openly criticized for what she done.  And who did the criticizing?  The disciples, along with Judas who help himself to the money bag when he felt it was convenient, the same one that sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver.  

Remember not everyone loves and worships the same way.  Some people are more reserved and others are more radical and some are more emotional than others but they all can be just as sincere as the other.  There are also some that don’t know what it is to praise the Lord, but we must be patient, someday they may learn as they grow in the Lord.  Then there are others that don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord at all and think it somewhat strange to see people raising their hands, some crying and others being very verbal in their worship and we need to be patient with them, but not intimidated by them.  

This lady had nothing else on her mind but to love and worship the Lord.  We could learn a lesson from her.  This reminds me of something I have heard and it is this; those that have been forgiven much love much and those that are forgiven little love little, this woman had been forgiven much.  How much have you been forgiven? Something to think about!  May you have a great day and may the good Lord bless you and yours and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!