Passing it on . . .

Peter found it at Of First Importance and shared it with his readers at Already Not Yet. I found it there, and thought I'd share it with you:

“In light of God’s judgment and justification of the sinner in the cross of Christ, we can begin to discover how to deal with any and all criticism. By agreeing with God’s criticism of me in Christ’s cross, I can face any criticism man may lay against me. In other words, no one can criticize me more than the cross has. If you thus know yourself as having been crucified with Christ, then you can respond to any criticism, even mistaken or hostile criticism, without bitterness, defensiveness, or blame shifting. Such responses typically exacerbate and intensify conflict, and lead to the rupture of relationships. You can learn to hear criticism as constructive and not condemnatory because God has justified you.”

- Alfred J. Poirier, The Cross and Criticism from The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Vol. 17, No. 3, Spring 1999, p. 17.