2. Even If Their Words Aren ' t Useful, the Pain Is
Pain is a dashboard warning light on the heart. It means something important. You can ignore it, like a check engine light, but eventually, you’ ll wish you had paid attention. What am I afraid of? Why am I so terrified of being“ the problem”? The answer, for me, was rejection and shame. They hurt so much. And that’ s useful information! A heart sensitive to rejection and shame often reveals a depleted love tank, a heart that has drifted inward. Was Yeshua afraid of rejection and shame? No. Because He knew His Father’ s love was sufficient. His Father’ s acceptance was sufficient. Yeshua’ s significance and belonging were fully met in His Father’ s heart for Him.
Shame, for example, isn’ t the problem— it’ s a warning light. It turns off in two ways: either through repentance( if you’ re ashamed of sinful behavior), or by letting the truth of God wash over the lie( if the shame is attacking your identity).
“ I have loved you with an everlasting love.”“ You are fearfully and wonderfully made.”“ You are chosen and adopted.”“ But you have been washed, you have been cleansed.”
Let’ s not ignore the warning lights, let’ s do the work needed to turn them off.
3. Criticism Is a Blessing, Not a Curse
As leaders, we are often targets for criticism. What a blessing!
We joke about leadership painting a bullseye on our backs, but what if we flipped our perspective? What if the stones thrown at us were actually building materials? What if we could stack them, assemble them, use them to fill in cracks in our foundation?
I once knew a man who converted his car engine to run on the used oil from fast food fryers. I don’ t know if that’ s still a thing, but imagine if our leadership engines had a switch— so we could run just as effectively on criticism as on encouragement.
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