Some negativity is evil, unnecessary and emotionally exhausting. But other negativity is godly and flows directly from mouth of God.
Similarly some positivity is evil, deceptive, and should be completely ignored. While other positivity is from the Spirit of Christ.How can we know the difference?
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
Proverbs 27:6 ESV
Sometimes a godly loving friend will wound us. Sometimes an evil motivated and confused person will flatter and “kiss” us. It takes spiritual insight and wisdom to know the difference.
Consider the source, consider the maturity of the person warning or flattering, is there balance? Are they always negative or always positive? Have they demonstrated the ability to be led of the Spirit of Christ? Do they have demonstrated ulterior motives in constant negativity or in constant positivity?
Do they acknowledge and have a biblical foundation to both negative and positive feedback for other Christians?
When there is a lot of criticism and negativity in a culture. Then weak people often stop regarding all warnings about the bad paths we sometimes find ourselves on, or the paths we are leading others down.
We sometimes get disoriented and disregard all criticism as empty negativity to ignore.
But that doesn’t mean at all that all criticism is in fact just empty negativity!
Sometimes it is the spirit of Christ trying to correct and bring sanity specifically to us. Jesus did and still does this today.
Just because we are tired and don’t want to listen, that says nothing about the value of listening to the mature people that are in our lives. Just because the person warning seems old or uncool or negative doesn’t mean we should ignore.
The warnings from the Christians that God places in our lives, especially warnings that are well thought through, articulate, and from trusted people …should be given special consideration. They still can be wrong but listen and consider carefully and repeatedly, with Bible in hand.
Christians today are often gaslighted against wisdom and sanity and by worldly, spiritually empty, professional voices …who just happen to routinely have a mic in hand, (eye-roll).
