For some of the areas you have been criticized, it really isn't about you e.g Adam and Eve got caught up in a war that wasn't about them. It was really about satan trying to set up a kingdom on earth and he was using them against God and he succeeded. On your job, it may not even be about you. It may be about 2 bosses trying to get at each other; it may be about somebody filling his drive for position in order to fire back at some people; it may be about someone whetting his appetite for greed,etc but YOU GOT CAUGHT! In your relationship it may not be about you, it may be the overwhelming dissatisfaction in their own relationship that caused them to say what they said. We are victims of our experiences but it takes mature people plus the Spirit of God to make sound judgement through the fractured lens of negative experiences but they fail in this too and are now looking for how to evangelize their gospel of woes to you; they couldn't succeed and they criticize. IT MAY NOT BE ABOUT YOU! Pastor Joel Osteen says "Don't walk with a chip on your shoulder, rather hold your head up and say it doesn't matter what they say, what matters is what God says and He is going to vindicate me."

There is also the Intimidation-Based Criticism. They criticize because your success highlights their deficiencies and into this category comes all the haters. They don't criticize because they have a different perspective, they criticize because your success highlights their deficiencies. They are frankly envious of who you are, your success, that you came in and in less time achieved so much; it makes them question why it took them so long and achieved so little.

Associative Critics would criticize you not because of you but to attack what you represent- the name you carry, the company you work for, the group you hang out with, who your best friend is, who you associate with. Some people are angry because of who you have as your friend for they wish they had that kind of friend too but they don't. That's why you have to be careful who you connect with because if you connect with me, you gain my friends but you also gain my enemies and they will kill you because you are connected to me!

When you know this and you believe what you represent, hold your head up. Understand that what they say does not define you. Jesus did not allow the criticism to deter the mission, He was focused enough to finish what He started to do inspite of the fact that everybody didn't celebrate what He was doing.

And once you have put your hands to the plough, you cannot be distracted by what people say; He that has begun a good work in you will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ! Keep doing what you're doing!

But then there is another type of criticism that I personally have faced & most of us can attest to the extremely virulent, volatile and outrightly villifying nature and effect of it. It is the worst of all criticisms and is...

*to be continued...* Blessed week ahead.