#012 Dealing with Criticism and Anger - 86 Seconds Video Devotional - Gary Wilkerson

Years ago I was watching my son do his homework and the assignment asked the question, "Do you get offended easily?" His answer, as I was looking over his shoulder, was, “Absolutely not.” I said, "Son, come on, you get offended pretty easily." He turned around with an angry look on his face said, "Dad, I don't get angry easily." Confirmed my suspicions.

What happens to us? What happens to me when I get angry? When somebody criticizes me? I find myself sometimes getting resentful to a larger degree than the constructive criticism merits. What is that? What is the power behind that?

Well, I would suggest to you it's not that actual event. It comes from something deeper inside, from old wounds, from your history. For me, it has a lot to do with not feeling like I'm enough, never being perfect enough, never been good enough, never being sufficient enough, never being powerful enough, never being lovable enough.
Out of that, when somebody criticizes me, I don't take it just as the surface level, I take it at a deeper level, that maybe they're actually confirming my suspicions about who I am. That's not really what they mean. They just want to try to help in the particular circumstance.

I want to encourage you not to look at people's criticism, but what we need to do is look at the deeper root issue. What is the wound? What's the core issue there? Let Jesus heal that. Take an internal look and when you see healing, you're going to start seeing that you relate to people in a different way. Not so offended so easily, not so willing to reject people when they criticize you, not so willing to fight fire with fire, but finding peace in the journey.