Critic vs. Creator
Several times this week I was in a meeting and other people started criticizing what another department wasn’t doing correctly, how they were doing something that wasn’t effective, how badly the direction a project was going, etc.
So I decided to join in.
And my human flesh became evident.
I soon remembered that criticizing was not going to get us anywhere. It wasn’t going to improve our organization, it wasn’t going to help me in any way, and it wasn’t going to make those situations or the people I was talking about any better.
So I stopped being part of the conversation.
What a Real Christian Businessman needs to realize it that it is easy to be a critic, but hard to be a creator. Creating something that will allow our company to move forward in obtaining more customers, sell more products, or be better at what we do is not easy. Helping a fellow brother or sister grow in their vocation by speaking to them privately and directly about what I thought could be done better is hard. Our human flesh wires us to lean towards the easy route every time though.
Jesus talked about this in the verse about the log and the speck.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Matt: 7:3-4 (NKJV)
You can be a creator. You can be an encourager. When others around you start talking about how bad another person is or how lousy a job situation has become (easy route), set your mind on creating a solution so that the situation will improve (hard route). If the criticism continues, remove yourself from the room or meeting. Stand up and go to the bathroom, excuse yourself, find a way to end the meeting, takes notes and stop speaking.
Criticism is like weeds that snuff out the life of the other good plants that are around it. Instead get our your gardening tools and create a place where ideas and thoughts can cultivate and grow – the road less traveled, the road that is harder, the road of a creator.