 Last week, I wrote about not wanting to be a casual Christian. The reality is I don’t believe that a casual Christian is even a real thing. This week’s category might end up hitting a little closer to home. Because although it shouldn’t be a thing, it is a sin that lurks at the door of all our hearts.
I don’t want to be a critical Christian. I know that after saying what I said last week I may sound like I believe I have the ability to judge other people's hearts, but I do not. I can only consider their confession and their fruit. But I can judge my heart and I am asserting that I don’t want to be this kind of Christian. One that lives inconsistently with the things I claim to believe. At the heart of the oxymoron of critical Christianity is the deceitful scheming of human pride. This pride can rear its ugly head in many different ways. The most obvious is the Christian braggart. This is the professing believer that is always the hero boasting of grand successes and achievements. This kind of Christian is very practical and pragmatic and loves comparisons. The second and even more prevalent type of critical Christian is the believer that has been puffed with pride usually brought on by an excess of knowledge or experiences. This kind of Christian can and will always find fault in the confessions, convictions, or counsel of other believers. Or this person may always be holding other believers to the standard of their own spiritual experiences instead of the objective truth of God revealed in His Word. Given these two different ways that this tends to happen it is not just the problem for those other Christians. The more bookish and intellectual types may be more vulnerable to the pride of excessive knowledge. While the more charismatic believers may be more vulnerable to the boasting of ecstatic experiences. But the reality is that we all must be on guard against this satanic scheme. The last and most subtle kind of critical Christian is the self abasing complainer. This is the person who is so depressed and despairing because they perceive their experience in life to be unfair or undeserved. This causes them to disregard the real grace and mercy that God continues to lavish on them. Worst of all this person is offended by the grace and favor that God seems to pour out on other people. Therefore, this believer is likely to doubt God’s providence or His merciful benevolence. But notice that the problem isn’t anything God has done but arrogance of the inverted pride that they have believed. If the good news I believe is essentially that I have received grace and mercy undeserved and unmerited then I want to give that same grace and mercy to those I see and know. We repentant sinners ought to be able to admit and acknowledge sin in and to one another while also extending forgiveness to one another for Christ’s sake. I want to be careful that I am not becoming the judge of someone else’s servant (Romans 14:4). I want to guard my heart against becoming an accuser of the brethren, remember that job is already taken and the pay is terrible (Rev. 12:10). I want to live in peace with all men as long as it depends on my actions and attitudes. No, I don’t want to be a critical Christian.
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