Well, it's no secret that God has designed this world and He has designed us that we can

improve as we listen to the criticism of others.

Just look at the theme of rebuke in the book of Proverbs for one example.

Rebuke is essential to our lives, clearly, but receiving critique from others means overcoming

the fear of criticism. It means overcoming the condemnation of criticism. It means discerning

the truthfulness of criticism. Knowing how to benefit from criticism requires a high degree

of skill. Skills that every Christian needs to develop.

That leads us to today's question from an anonymous young woman who lives in Munich,

Germany. She wants to overcome her fear of others. Here's what she writes. Hello, Pastor

John, thank you for this outlet to ask my question. I'll get right to it. I think too

much about what people think of me. In particular, when people criticize me, I really take it

to heart. I know I should focus on Jesus, but I fail. Sometimes I cannot sleep as I think

about what people have said about me. It is worst at work. I really take my office job

to heart and cannot deal with it when my boss criticizes anything about what I do.

I look cool and stay calm and polite, but I willt inside. What can I do to overcome this

feeling of hurt? How can I focus on Jesus instead of myself?

Sometimes it helps in a situation like this. I find, whether it's in myself or others,

to break the problem down into parts. So let's try to do that. It seems to me that there

are four kinds of criticism that our German friend might get at any given time. First,

there is criticism that is deserved and is given in kindness and goodwill. Second, there

is criticism that is deserved and is given in harsh and demeaning ways. Third, there's

criticism that is not deserved and is given in kindness and goodwill. It's a real mistake.

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