The Fear of Human Opinions Disables...

Criticism is everywhere and will always be. Sometimes criticism can be helpful, but too often it's not. I've come to the conclusion that people are going to criticize you when you do the right thing and people will criticize you when you don't. So that puts us in a difficult spot, right? I don't think so. One of the most liberating things I've learned is that when I do things, my focus shouldn't be to please people. The Message Bible says it perfectly in Proverbs 29:25, "The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that. If the fear of human opinion is my focus, I'll always be fighting a losing battle. But when pleasing the Lord becomes my focus, and not people, I've found I have great liberty and satisfaction. Even though people will continue to criticize me when I make choices that are right, it really doesn't bother me anymore. If what I'm doing clearly lines up with the Bible then I'm good with that. There are many people who do the right thing and are then criticized for it, but they'll tell you that they'd do it all over again because it was the right thing to do. I see many examples of people in the Bible who made choices that were right, even though publicly unpopular, because they knew who they were aiming to please. Can you imagine if people did this? Decisions not being based on the popular opinion or fear of man, but on what was obedient to the Bible and pleasing to the Lord. Today you may have some difficult decisions or choices to make. Let them be based on the Bible and move forward, regardless of what others may think or the criticism you'll recieve. Don't forget, people are going to criticize you regardless. As Seth Godin said, "Criticism will come to those who stand out."