Censorious Thoughts - Part 3

Mark Lauterbach says:

As a young man I was so proud that I saw nothing my elders did that was not worthy of criticism -- they were not biblical enough, radical enough, clear enough, firm enough. Or they were too clear, too certain, not faithful to the text, too dogmatic. There was not one area of church life I did not grasp so perfectly (after 3 years of study) that I could not pronounce on it! That is something worse than pride. The fact that I was far more aware of sin than of grace speaks of that pride.

I have some pet peeves and these are areas of pride as well. I can smell fundamentalism from a hundred yards and when I do, all the critical faculties of my mind are stirred and I go after it tooth and nail. So I proudly critique the proud critques of others!

How unlike my Lord I am. First, he is omniscient so he has no need to conjecture. Second, he looked with hope on his disciples and saw what he was doing in them and would continue to do. How full of encouragement the NT is. The Gospel filter enables me to see others with hope for what God will do in their lives and with amazement at grace that is already present.