Criticized? Trust God to Defend You

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES The Keys to a Blessed Life   Criticized? Trust God to Defend You By Rick Warren — Oct 12, 2015 “I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.” (Psalm 62:5-7 TEV) There are always going to be people in your life who misunderstand you and people who don’t like you. There will always be people who criticize you, judge you, attack you, and spread rumors about you. When you are misunderstood, you’re going to have a tendency to get in there and defend yourself. When you’re attacked, your tendency is attack back — just like the rest of us. When people criticize you, you want to criticize back. When people insult you, you want to insult them back. Don’t do it! Let God be your defender. Every time you are under attack, criticized, put down, or misunderstood, you have two choices. You can defend yourself, or you can let God defend you. Which will it be? Who do you think can do a better job defending you? God can. Pay attention to this: You’re most like Christ when you say nothing in the face of attack, lies, and unfair criticism. You’re most like Jesus when you remain silent and leave it in God’s hands. When Jesus was insulted, “he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge” (1 Peter 2:23 TEV). Even Jesus did not fight back in the face of his unjust conviction and persecution. He trusted God to defend him when it mattered most and to have the ultimate justice. In the Bible, King David was criticized and attacked his entire life. In fact most of his life people wanted to kill him because they were jealous of him. David said this in Psalm 62:5-7: “I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.” A lot of people are going to be jealous of your success, too, and they’re going to want to attack you for many different reasons. But, like David, you need to let God be your protector, your Savior, your defender, your victor, and your shelter. Let God handle it. Let him be your defense. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over What are some practical things you can do in the moment to keep from speaking or acting in retaliation? Why do you think God wants us to remain silent when we are under attack? Why doesn’t he want us to try to prove that we are right? How does someone’s attack on your character say more about that person than it does you? Today’s Scripture “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...” (Romans 12:2, NASB) SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS Transform Your Thinking Your life will move in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. You can choose to think according the world’s system or according to God’s system. The world’s system says, “Look out for number one...do whatever you can to get ahead...make yourself happy.” But in God’s system, it’s just the opposite. You find happiness and blessing by serving and putting others first. God doesn’t want us to have an attitude that is self-centered, jealous or greedy. He knows that those attitudes end in destruction. God wants us to live a blessed and prosperous life, and that’s why Scripture tells us to renew our minds or transform our thinking. We have to make sure our thoughts are the same as God’s thoughts. Just like a computer, whatever you allow into your mind is what will come out in your attitude and actions. The more you meditate on God’s Word, the more you will transform your thinking to be like God’s thinking. Choose today to focus on His Word and allow your mind to be renewed. Transform your thoughts and experience His blessing! A Prayer for Today “Father, today I submit to You all that I am. I ask that You renew my mind as I meditate on Your word. Transform me into Your image in Jesus’ name. Amen.”