Do you ever feel like you just can’t win? Does seem like it doesn’t matter what you do someone will find something wrong with it? Have you had one group tell you to do this and another to do that? Have you felt like a piece of rope caught in a tug of war?
Being caught in the middle can be very frustrating. And far too often, we are caught in the middle. If we do one thing, there is someone to criticize it. If we don’t do it, there is someone else who will criticize us for not doing it. We may be ready to throw up our hands and give up.
If you have felt this way, you are not alone. Jesus experienced it. He tells us people criticized John for not partaking in the parties in the city, then they criticized Jesus for partaking in them. Jesus’s advice to us is to disregard those criticizing us. Instead, we are to follow the wisdom of God. We are to go about doing what God has called us to do and ignore the noise of the detractors.
We may believe that is easier said than done. True it is. But why? Largely because we do not spend enough time reading and studying God’s Word nor enough time in prayer and silence. When our only connection to God is going to worship service on Sunday morning, our connection is weak. Ever wonder why Jesus liked to talk about shepherds? They have plenty of quiet time walking through the pastures to think about God and spend time in prayer.
For us to follow Jesus’s advice to follow the wisdom of God, we need to have a close connection with him. That connection only grows deeper as we spend more time with him. It works the same as growing a deeper connection with people. The more time we spend with people, the better we get to know them. The same is true with God.
I pray we all disregard our detractors for doing the right thing. I pray we read and study God’s Word. I pray each one of us will spend more time with God so we can follow his wisdom. Do the right thing. Read God’s Word. Study God’s Word. Spend time in prayer. Follow God’s wisdom.
Matthew 11:18-19 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Marty Pressey 