#183

Criticism Can Give You a Headache

I heard a preacher once say that some folks live like they were born in vinegar and weaned on sour pickle juice.

I believe that one of the ways that Satan is very effective in defeating individual Christians, or at the very least rendering them as an ineffective witnesses,  is with a constant bombardment of negative criticism. He puts negative people in our lives that can turn us into continual critics ourselves if we are not careful.

In his book, “Three Simple Steps: A Map To Success in Business and Life," author, Trevor Blake, describes what happens in the brain when a person is exposed to constant criticism. Now before I go any further, I will admit that some will use this study to say there should be no criticism. That is not the intent of Blake’s study and it is not the intention of this article. What he and his study dealt with was what happens to us when we are in an environment of constant negativity.

Have you ever left with a headache after being cornered in a negative environment for a long period of time?

“A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; Proverbs 27:15 NIV.” I use this passage not as a characterization of women, but because of the use of the visual - "a constantly dripping faucet.”  A quarrelsome anyone would be compared to this “drip, drip, drip.”

"The brain works more like a muscle than we thought," Blake says. "So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well."

This is the danger for Jesus people. The study reveals that if exposed to constant negative criticism, we could end up becoming negative critics ourselves. We know that “bad company corrupts good character, (I Corinthians 15:33 CEB).” Paul’s point is that we should not be bad company, but it is also understood that we should not be in bad company for fear it would rub off on us.

Blake’s study reveals that constantly being in highly critical company can rub off on us.

I wonder how many of us became negative people because of constant exposure to negativity.

The kind of criticism we are referencing is not constructive input, but criticism where the critic is typically not interested in a solution, but only vocalizing his or her negativity and getting others to join in. The negative criticism may not be about you, but directed to you about who knows what: politics, sports, garbage pick-up, telephone service, etc.

The source of this type of bombardment is not limited to those we interact with. It can come from all forms of media. Much of what comes into our lives is accessed via the “on” button on our communication devices; and much of that input is constantly negative. So how can we insulate ourselves to some degree from this constant barrage? We can turn off the computer, the television, the radio, mP3 player, etc, but there is no “off” button for people.

The reason this is so important is because it affects our witness for Jesus. Who wants to become a member of a family full of constant critics?

This really presents a double-barreled dilemma. How do we not become enmeshed in negativity, and how do we help this person escape the prison of being constantly critical?

Our solution, I believe, is to, “Come out from among them.” We cannot allow ourselves to be continually exposed to continual criticism for fear it will turn us into a negative monster.

Then we need to carefully help a person out of that mire with love and patience, describing the impact, or potential impact, they can have on the people in their life circles. I really don’t think they want to, nor do they realize that they are, giving people headaches with their constant criticism of virtually everything that goes on around them – turning us into negative and constantly critical people.