02 June 2019
Two-Minute Features | 09 June 2019

Being Critical & Complaining (TMF:1145)

Friday, June 07, 2019
Peace to Live By: Being Critical & Complaining (TMF:1145) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Now, another struggle for us can be complaining. When we complain in our lives, whether on a big level, or even on a smaller level, we are actually sinning and preventing God from helping us in our lives. For one, complaining is the opposite of thanksgiving. If we are complaining about things, with a critical mindset, we are not giving thanks to God and living in a thankful attitude in our minds. When a problem arises, we have two choices. We can either complain about it with our mouths, or we can keep quiet and believe that the problem is going to clear up. When we complain with our mouths, God can’t help us. It’s as if he looks down from Heaven and says, “Man, I’d love to help her. But she’s sinning by complaining.” I think many of us are so use to complaining that we have excused it in our minds by saying, “Well, everyone complains. It’s not that bad.” But to God, it’s bad. It’s not utilizing our faith.

God Has Many Ways to Do Things (TMF:1144)

Thursday, June 06, 2019
Peace to Live By: God Has Many Ways to Do Things (TMF:1144) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Most of the time when we are thinking negatively about someone else or another ministry, we are just jealous of whatever it is. But, if we do have a legitimate concern, which is rare, we typically go ahead and criticize and speak negatively before we find out if our assumption is correct or incorrect. A problem for us is that we often like to criticize others who do things differently than we do. Remember, with God there are many ways to doing things, and all of his ways are correct in his eyes. Like, there are many ways to share the Gospel, for instance. Often, though, we think that if someone doesn’t do things how ‘we’ think they should do it, then the person or ministry is in fact in the wrong. And then sometimes we feel it is our job to go and correct that person ‘we feel’ is in the wrong. Satan can have great victories in this area if we let him. He can get us to criticize others, and be a bother and hurt to them, when that’s not God’s will at all. The Bible tells us to “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, ESV) in the body of Christ.

Judging Without Asking the Person (TMF:1143)

Wednesday, June 05, 2019
Peace to Live By: Judging Without Asking the Person (TMF:1143) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       When others say hurtful things to you, often it is because Satan is capitalizing on the weakness of that person to bother you. That particular brother or sister hasn’t been keeping watch on this faultfinder area in his or her life, and Satan can take advantage of that weakness greatly to hurt you and others. And often we judge and criticize other people without asking them anything first. Most of the time when we are thinking negatively about someone else or another ministry, we are just jealous of whatever it is. But, if we do have a legitimate concern, which is rare, we typically go ahead and criticize and speak negatively before we find out if our assumption is correct or incorrect. A problem for us is that we often like to criticize others who do things differently than we do. Remember, with God there are many ways to doing things, and all of his ways are correct in his eyes. Like, there are many ways to share the Gospel, for instance. Often, though, we think that if someone doesn’t do things how ‘we’ think they should do it, then the person or ministry is in fact in the wrong.

When Discernment Gets Out of Control (TMF:1142)

Tuesday, June 04, 2019
Peace to Live By: When Discernment Gets Out of Control (TMF:1142) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Many of us have been taught to be discerning of teachings and people, but a problem is that we have let our discernment get out of control to the point where our discerning actually becomes a faultfinding attitude that invades all areas of our life. So what happens is that we end up looking at everything in life through negative faultfinding glasses, and then we spot something wrong, and we speak what is wrong with our mouths to others. Remember, a faultfinder will always find fault because you can find fault in just about anything if you look hard enough. We often excuse our faultfinding as a good thing because we think we are doing it in a spirit of ‘discerning.’ We think we are supposed to faultfinders. But that’s not true. And, when we have developed an attitude like this, Satan can then use us to hurt others by saying hurtful things to them. When others say hurtful things to you, often it is because Satan is capitalizing on the weakness of that person to bother you.

It is the Motive That Matters (TMF:1141)

Monday, June 03, 2019
Peace to Live By: It is the Motive That Matters (TMF:1141) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       I am not saying we should never deny the truth, deny what is true. Sometimes we say things that aren’t pleasant because the truth isn’t alway pleasant. But we need to be careful that we have a right motive when we speak. Many of us, again, say negative things only to hurt ourselves and others, and not to shed light on the truth of a matter. And that is key here. Many say negative things to themselves because they don’t like themselves, but Jesus taught us to love ourselves. People say hurtful statements to others many times just to hurt them. It’s not wrong to say negative things to others when our intention is for the truth of God’s Word to be known, or to just help someone. But we shouldn’t judge, criticize, condemn, and do like things because we are envious or jealous of people, or just negative in general. We should not be faultfinders. Many of us have been taught to be discerning of teachings and people, but a problem is that we have let our discernment get out of control to the point where our discerning actually becomes a faultfinding attitude that invades all areas of our life.