Eyes on Jesus Podcast episode 34: Discernment and the Critical Spirit

Discernment and a critical spirit are NOT the same thing! In this episode we explore the fine but crucial difference between having a critical spirit and exercising discernment. We underscore the impact of a critical spirit on interpersonal relationships, particularly within the church. Drawing on personal experiences, societal examples, and biblical passages, we provide tips on cultivating discernment, including being alert to personal motives, focusing on one’s own shortcomings rather than others’, offering encouragement, assuming the best in others, and resisting spiritual attacks. This episode encourages listeners to embrace the nuances of their faith journey, communicate with love and grace, and foster unity in their communities.

To download Tim’s new Bible Plan- https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/41910-the-tabernacle-of-david

Below is the transcript for the episode- some of the transcript might be incorrect. 

To watch the full episode go to https://youtu.be/ykEYcvKEaF4?si=nyh4m5JV9U-ZaxH8

To listen to the audio version, you can find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts just search Eyes on Jesus Podcast with Drew and Tim

Ep 34 discernment and the critical spirit

[00:00:00] Tim: Welcome to the eyes on Jesus podcast with Drew and Tim. We’re here with you again, and we love to be able to talk to you and we want to hear from you as well. So make sure you let us know if you’re listening, share this with a friend. If you find this value added, that’s the best way for us to market this podcast without paying our hard earned dollars on paying the man to do it for us.

Drew, how are you doing today?

[00:00:23] Drew: I’m doing good. Doing really good. I still can’t get over that. We’ve created A thousand hours of content this year that’s nuts. You shared that with me before we got started and i’m like wow a thousand hours of content So thanks to everybody like Tim said thanks to everybody who’s listening who’s sharing this who’s connecting with us, via social media And who’s keeping us?

Subscribed on podcast and apple and spotify. It’s really awesome. Really cool

I’m doing well. How about you?

[00:00:51] Tim: Good, man. Just recovering from the holidays and making sure that, you know, there’s, we’re going into like a fasting season at church and making sure that we’re kind of have a vision for this next year.

So that’ll be good. I can probably stand to lose a few pounds from the extra holiday food. It’s the byproduct. It’s like, Oh, fasting. I need to do that spiritually, but also, Hey, I kind of need to as well to detox, you know, whatever. It’s like a double. Yeah. Yeah. Whenever we went to Disneyland, we used to go to Disneyland every year.

Like literally my son was 10 and we probably had, he’d probably been to Disneyland 15 Times, you know, because we would go someTimes twice a year. Anyway, we don’t do that anymore for reasons, but also you know, going there and eating just garbage for an entire week. Would make me come back and just be like, how about I fast, you know, like I could probably use a fast and detox.

So,

[00:01:40] Drew: yeah, absolutely.

[00:01:41] Tim: . We’re talking today about the critical spirit and discernment. So are these the same thing? No, they’re not. And what is the difference? So we want to talk about this. This is something that’s been on my heart for many years. Now, as I talk about discernment, having Discerning Dad is my overarching ministry.

And to talk about why discernment’s important, but also we want to specifically focus today on the critical spirit, which is. alive and well in churches and to be able to identify in ourselves and to not just be critical of other people, but to be critical about ourselves. If you’re going to be critical about anyone, be critical about yourself.

Jesus said this when he talked about taking the log out of your own eye before you look at the speck in your brother’s eye. And so what we see often is the critical spirit being rampant in denominations especially on social media, on YouTube, where people make it their entire platform to discredit people and to call out people who might look differently than they do.

And so that’s our topic today. Before we dive into the nitty gritty, what are your first thoughts about critical spirit? Yeah,

[00:02:45] Drew: well, you know, you and I both have experience with this because with what we do for a living in church, like there’s part of us that has to have some kind of what’s going right.

What’s going wrong kind of attitude, but there’s a really unhealthy place that you can get to. And I think we both recognize that. I think we probably both recognize that at different phases in ministry and of life, we’ve probably been at an unhealthy place and really had the wrong mindset. Walking into places.

So there’s two things that immediately come to mind when I think about discernment and the first one is just approach, like recognize what your approach is walking into a room. And it’s not just with church, it’s into a conversation, it’s into work, it’s into your household, like what’s your approach when you’re walking.

And so the first thing I think of is like, all right, mindset what am I thinking about before I get to the critical or discerning thought? And then secondly, are you focused on moments or lifestyles? So with people, especially, I think it’s important that we recognize the difference between moments.

And lifestyles anybody can have a poor moment. I’ve had poor moments. You’ve had poor moments This is part of us all falling short of the glory of God. We’re all sinners We all have troubles and we all lean towards certain sins And so we have difficult moments that is human. That is why we need a savior Hello gospel.

Welcome to the podcast, but the big thing for me is Are we being critical about moments or are we then like looking at others and being critical about lifestyles and recognizing, Hey that person is a Christian and they’re living life this way. And I think that’s always like the.

The deciding factor of, do you speak on it? Do you call it out? Things like that. So, really a difficult subject, difficult topic, and so many variables, you know, so many different variables and that’s why hopefully we can get people to a place of deep thought through this podcast, through this conversation, but untimately lead people to a place of understanding the first place you need to go when you’re deciding.

What kind of thoughts you’re having in taking an inventory of your life is Jesus. Like, you need to go to prayer. Then you need to go to scripture. So yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:11] Tim: And with discernment, obviously discernment is important. We need it today. And when people sometimes hear like, Oh, don’t be critical. Don’t judge.

It’s then that, okay, we just accept everything. And that’s not what we’re saying. That’s not what we’re going to be saying during this episode is we. definitely agree that you need to be discerning of the times we’re living in, discerning of the word of God, discerning against the lies of satan, discerning against sin.

And so none of what we’re going to say means that you just accept everything and just unity for the sake of unity, right? That’s not going to be the point of this. But when we have discernment, it is, I call it Holy Spirit infused decision making. And so when we make decisions, when we clarify what.

we’re doing in life. It’s because of the Holy Spirit in us. It’s because of the Bible foundation that we have. And it’s because of Godly relationships that God’s put in our life. And so those things help us have discernment, help us make decisions that lead us down a path of blessing in our life and not a place where we are under you know, discrediting through the work of Satan over our life.

And as a Christian we’re called to live in freedom and to make decisions that honor God. And so, but we still have the free will to make poor decisions. I mean, we’ve all made poor decisions this week alone, right? We’ve all done things that we regret. So it’s not because now that you’re saved, you’re going to make just complete perfect.

Decisions. I wish that was the case, but it’s not. We’re in a process of sanctification. And as we’re on this process, we’re going to learn and grow and we’re not going to do the same things we did five years ago because of the Holy Spirit’s conviction over our life. And so we’re in work, we’re in progress.

And so discernment allows us to be able to make those decisions. And I like Charles Spurgeon, he said, discernment is not the difference between right and wrong, but between right and almost right. So there’s this, you know, if Satan’s at your door. asking you to sacrifice something like you’re going to say, shut the door.

No, of course not. But if he’s tempting you with a small little compromise, then you might give in, you might say, okay, sure. And so the difference between right and almost right is a fine line. And people will often, you know, clarify what that means in their own mind and often not using the word of God as their foundation.

And I mean, hello, we have the word of God is our foundation across multiple denominations across multiple cults that still use the word of God as their quote foundation because they misinterpreted and use it for selfish gain. And so just because we say that the Bible is your foundation, it’s the proper interpretation.

It’s the Christian teaching that’s withheld for centuries. Then, you know, look at the apostles creed. That’s like our foundation. That’s like, we don’t budge on the core essentials of the faith, but then secondary issues we can debate vigorously without having to divide over.

[00:07:46] Drew: Right.

Yeah. And you know, anybody can just, it’s just so easy to be critical. Like, it’s just so easy. It’s the easy way out. And I feel like what you’re talking about in discerning that there’s time involved. There’s perspective involved. There’s, you know, that quote of being right and almost right.

it’s not a huge gap. No. So how do we get to a place of recognizing that we’re not approaching things correctly, that we’re not. We’re not seeing things clearly. And I know that you’ve, I mean, you have an entire video that you did on this a couple years back that I think we’re going to include in the show notes, but I remember looking back at that this week and it’s always good just to get a nice little reminder.

Of like, Hey, what am I filling my time with? What am I looking at? What is my approach? Like, how am I really thinking through this? That quote from Charles Spurgeon, right? And almost right, man, that should really hit our listeners from a place of like, man it’s tight.

It’s tight. And if it’s going to be that way, then we’ve got to. Really think through it and pray through it. So tell me this Tim I know we’ve you know, we’ve discussed this previously on our podcast, but what’s a time when you recognized? All right You know, you’ve got this discerning dad, that’s your title now, right?

And like, what’s the moment that you were like, I really have to start discerning and get out of this critical spirit.

[00:09:22] Tim: Yeah, for me, and I might’ve mentioned this before,, I had a critical spirit growing up.

I grew up Christian. My dad was a pastor. I grew up with a great foundation in the Word of God, but it was also very narrow minded into only accepting one line of thinking, one line of eschatological viewpoint one line of this is the only way. That you can be a christian.

And that led to a lot of criticism around other denominations, around other lines of thinking, around other ways of presenting the word of God, even. And so I would hear messages and sermons from other pastors and just instantly. I could tell that my guard was up. I was constantly waiting for them to trip up.

I will find something I thought was wrong and be like, okay, see, that’s why this is a horrible sermon. And so I was that person. I was a person that now I say, don’t just pick the one thing that your pastor says out of a 45 minute sermon to say, Oh, see, well, what about this? Is that, what about the entire message, the entire viewpoint of the whole sermon?

Did you get anything out of it? Or were you just listening to discredit them. And so I was there. And I think really just maturity getting in the word of God myself, kind of breaking out from that understanding of just one way. Okay. So there’s one way to God is through Jesus, but there’s not just one interpretation of some secondary issues in the Bible, right?

That’s what I had to come down to is that God is not just. You can’t put God into in a denomination box, and if you choose the denomination, great, but also realizing that God can move through other denominations. And he does. And he also moves through false teachers. He moves through cults. He moves through other areas because he’s God and he can rescue someone out of a cult and reach them through what they hear, even if it’s a twisted version of the truth.

And so if we’re okay with God being God and letting him have his way, even in the midst of human sin and depravity, then we can be okay with also not feeling like we have to be a justice warrior for God, stick up for the Holy Spirit, acting like God can’t defend himself. I mean, this is where we get into trouble is that, Oh no, I’m speaking truth.

I’m speaking truth, but I, there’s zero love in it. And then what you see is just a complete dichotomy between. Okay. Over here is the truth, but then zero love. And over here is love that accepts everything. It doesn’t stand for truth at all. And we need both. And so that’s where, from my perspective, like I came out of that mindset of just complete truth and zero love.

And now I try to mix in the grace that I give people realizing that they’re on a journey, realizing that I look back at myself 20 years ago.

 So I was a quote Christian, but I still look back and I’m like, man, I was missing so much of understanding of who God was. And so. I think when I see people now, I just see myself and a lot of people, you know, and I try to give grace. And obviously when people have a critical spirit and they leave the church or they just, you know, curse you out and then divide over, over trivial issues.

I mean, we’ve had people leave the church over just a hiring decision over having somebody on the elder board or having somebody. Yeah. Hired to a department that doesn’t have anything to do with them and they leave the entire church over that. Right. And that’s a critical spirit to say that I must be heard.

I must be right. I’m right in my own eyes. And now I need everyone else to see that. And so that’s the difference between just discerning truth and making decisions for yourself or your family or talking about it with your friends as a critical spirit stands on a pedestal, claiming they have the truth and discredits anyone else that doesn’t believe what they do.

They demand attention and they demand to be heard. And there’s no resolution like, okay, we can agree to disagree. A critical spirit demands. You either hear me and you agree exactly as I do, or I’m going to walk the other way and we are not going to have a relationship.

[00:13:08] Drew: Okay. So what you just defined is every social media platform.

Pretty much. So this is why we have to be really careful because. It can be both and. So, for instance, it’s possible for someone to say I think what happened on October 7th in Gaza. I think that was wrong. I think that was an ambush. I think that was an attack. And I stand with Israel. In them wanting to do something about it.

I think it’s possible that at the same time you have that belief and opinion, you can also say, I really wish Israel wasn’t at war with the Palestinians. And I wish that people weren’t dying on both sides and I’ve prayed for peace. On both sides. And I’ve prayed for hearts on both sides, knowing that not every Israeli soldier is going to do the right things and not every Hamas soldier, Palestinian soldier is going to do the right things as I see it. So I can love both parties and also see that both parties might be wrong and also see that both parties need support and also see that both parties need Jesus.

But no, no, no, no, no. We live in a world where you either have a Israel flag or a Hamas flag. You’re either fighting for Israel or you stand with Palestine. And like, dude, like, what are we doing? It’s possible. And this is what kills me also about the, about just the wrong people getting the mic sometimes we can’t get on stage and be like.

It’s a sin to be this way or do this, right? So like the famous thing and the really popular thing at churches is LGBTQ, right? So we stand on stage and we say, it’s a sin. It’s a sin to be gay. Well, is it a sin to be gay? Is it a sin to act on being gay? Right now we’re on another layer and then it’s like, well, then you have to either, you’re either a church who accepts homosexuality and approves of it.

And supports it, or you’re a church that hates the LGBTQ community. Could I make a suggestion that maybe I’m a pastor that biblically recognizes that not being a homosexual but acting on homosexuality. is a sin according to scripture, but I still love you and would welcome you at my church.

And you could sit right next to me and we’ll do church together. Like, is it possible to do both?

[00:16:04] Tim: Yeah. People call into the church once in a while and they’ll be like, are you an affirming church? And I was like, you’re going to have to define that term. Because if I’m going to, if you talk about it, do I love you?

Do I, you know, welcome you in and sure. Do I’m going to validate your lifestyle? No. Like there’s a difference in it’s often we, you know, we live in a. And oftentimes we look at black and white only, but there’s a gray piece to it that you have to look at history of the person. You have to look at like, what is their upbringing?

How do we break down this ideology that’s formed in their mind, you know? Cause if you start talking the Bible to someone who’s already deconstructed, who already has this mindset that it was written by men and is fallible, like to them, that’s not the standard. And so how do you break free from that mindset?

Like how do you have to start it? You have to start a ground zero with them and you can only do that through relationship. You can only do that through taking them out, saying like, okay, how were you raised? What is your understanding of religion? Oh, you were actually hurt by a pastor who abused you.

Okay. Let’s talk through that. And now, you know, you just kind of follow the trail down to where they’re at today, but you can’t just do that in the comments when you don’t have relationship with people. And what I see is the fact that many times. Even in the church there’s things that we treat as black and white, like, like divorce, for example, right?

The woman’s getting abused by her husband, both physically and verbally, but because there’s no marital unfaithfulness, we’re going to tell her that she needs to stay. So you’re telling me that.

[00:17:30] Drew: Jesus speaks clearly to that.

[00:17:32] Tim: So you’re going to tell me she actually needs to go and cheat on her husband for you to give her the okay to divorce.

Like, is that what you’re saying? Like, it’s okay to cheat now because now it gives her an out. Right. So,

[00:17:44] Drew: and now you’re going to be looked at differently and now you can’t serve in certain ministries. And now we, and it gets real ugly really fast. You know, I was watching this interview one Time that Carl Lentz gave, God bless him, and he said this one thing that While I don’t agree with a lot of the things that he has done he did say something that was incredibly profound and incredibly simple that stuck with me.

Our job is to love, and everything after that requires a conversation. And I just, I believe it. I firmly believe that. And the one place you can’t have a conversation Is on social media you can have a comment But you can’t have a conversation and what you just talked about being in a relationship and our job is to love love like we Love you.

That’s it Our job is to love and I like i’ll be bold here and say if you’re listening to this podcast right now I love you. I don’t even know you But if I met you, I’m telling you, I would love you, but everything after that requires a conversation because you’re right. Everybody’s life is different. And you mentioned like abuse in the church and things like that a minute ago, like I had a neighbor who lived across the street from me.

I used to hang out with. All the time and I thought we connected really well because he was a pastor’s son and I was a pastor’s son So we’d play basketball We would never really talk about church and he seemed like everything was fine And then when we grew up, I kind of stayed in the church in my 20s And he got way off this road and he started doing drugs and he got into alcohol.

And I heard he was in like rehab and therapy and all this stuff. And I’m just like, man, and in my mind, in my critical spirit, I’m like, man, that guy just didn’t get it. That guy just didn’t figure it out come to find out about three years later after I had that thought and after I heard all those things He was being abused for a decade in the church Wow for a decade from when he was like nine years old He was being abused not by his father, but by another member of the church.

He was being abused So now I’m looking at his life and going jeez Like I know that well, yeah, how’d you know that so your job is to love? And then have a conversation and if you’re not in a position to have a conversation with somebody There’s a really good chance. You should just assume the best and keep your mouth shut

[00:20:16] Tim: Yeah, and you can tell someone you should go to church.

You can tell someone don’t get divorced You can tell someone don’t be homosexual And you’d be right. However, there’s multi layers involved with just speaking quote truth. And that’s what a critical spirit does. A critical spirit will, will say, I’m just, I just want to focus on the truth. I just want to focus on the truth.

Or a critical spirit will say, I’m just trying to help. You know, it’s funny when we homeschooled for many years, it was always something they’d mentioned at the homeschool convention we went to is like, the worst thing you can hear is. A government agency showing up to your door because you’re a homeschooler and say, I’m here to help.

That’s like the worst thing that you can hear is because they’re not going to be helpful. They’re going to try to control you. And so the same kind of thing, if you just, you know, someone in church, I’m just here to help. Right? Well, well, who are you? First of all, I don’t know who you are. Now. You’re going to tell me that I’m wrong.

Like, forget you. Like, and that’s oftentimes how it comes across when people have a critical spirit. And I like this. I’m researching this a little bit. I found this line and I want to get your feedback on it. It says a critical spirit is a perversion of the longing for the perfect world that we will inherit in God.

So it’s a perversion of the longing we have for a perfect world and I kind of like that because in our hearts, right? We I’ve never been to the garden in the beginning, but there’s a longing as all creation longs to be put things to right. And so in us, I think there is a longing for a world when there is no more sin, no more dying, no more tears, which we will inherit someday.

And so a critical spirit is a perversion on that because it wants it now at the expense of people at the expense of love.

[00:21:57] Drew: Yeah. I mean, as I’m reflecting back, I’m trying to find where my thoughts have originated. And I think that’s a solid quote. It’s the first time I’ve heard it, but the more I’m like, what am I really searching?

What am I really running after when I’m critical, when I’m looking at someone else’s life? What am I really? Oh, I’m wanting them to be perfect.

[00:22:17] Tim: That’s what it is.

[00:22:18] Drew: Is that what I’m, is that what I’m wanting? Am I perfect? Oh, okay.

[00:22:22] Tim: No. All right. All right. Cool. You want your church to be perfect. You want this marriage, your marriage to be perfect.

You want perfect. Right. Inherently, is that bad? I mean, no, but at the same time, you have to come to the agreement of the fact that it’s just. It’s just not going to be right now

[00:22:37] Drew: Yeah, it’s just not it’s just not yeah One of the things that I told my church about when I first got positioned It’ll be two years this easter one of the first things I said was I want everyone to know that I will not get everything right.

I just want to get that out of the way I will make mistakes. I will make bad decisions. I will not get Everything right? My goal is to get the important things, right? There we go. That’s it. My goal is to get the important things right. Preaching the gospel from the stage, having solid theology and doctrine.

And taking care of my family and my relationships and myself and making sure nothing stupid happens there And those are like the important things building relational equity and trust important things Little stuff little decisions. I’ve definitely not made every decision like perfectly But I try to get the big stuff right and that’s I think that’s a good place to start So, how do we move forward?

In recognizing, like, how do we, like, do we ask ourselves, do I have a critical spirit or am I discerning? Like, what do we do there?

[00:23:56] Tim: Yeah, I think there’s a few questions here that we can ask ourselves. So am i guilty of this, one of them is do you offer advice without being asked? Are you the first person to give someone advice when no one asked you for your opinion?

Another one is do you ask others open ended questions on how you can be helpful to them? If you ask how you can be helpful without just thinking this is how it can be helpful, right? If you just say, I’m going to be helpful by doing this to you. Then you probably have a critical spirit instead of like, Hey, how can I be helpful?

How can I support your ministry? How can I support your family? How can I support your job right now? I think that’s much more of a good way to go about it. Do you interrupt others in their conversation with you or with others? Do you interrupt? Do you encourage others regularly? If you’re an encourager more than likely you don’t have a critical spirit.

, I like this one. Would you be okay with your opinion not being heard?

 Can you be okay with someone not knowing your opinion? Coming from two guys from the podcast. I’m going to tell them what for in the comments. That’s are you okay with people having convictions different than your own? Do you use the Bible to justify your sin, your gossip, or your hate?

Do you use the Bible to justify, not someone else’s, your own sin, your own gossip, and your own hate? Do you use the Bible to justify that you have a critical spirit of the people you’re hating? And then also, do you enjoy seeing others exposed in ministry? Now, this is interesting. So well, if I see a big person fall, then God’s justice was done and they finally got exposed.

Darkness was brought to light. Yeah. Why would I not enjoy that? And the difficult part here is that, think about what you’re saying. You’re saying a man or woman of God who is in position, who has hundreds if not thousands of people, that they’re shepherding Yeah. Yep. Has fallen. And now you’re rejoicing in that not rejoicing, that the sin was exposed, which is different than the person falling.

Right. You can say you’re glad it happened. But glad it happened. And then looking for the next person and waiting for them to fall. And I think the difference here is that recognizing that you should mourn a little bit with them, with what’s happened with seeking out. Like praying, if nothing else, if you’re not involved in the situation just do you actually pray for that person?

Did you say, Oh, I got another one. Another one fell. This is confirming my bias of why I don’t go to church or confirming the fact that my pastor is probably doing the same thing. It’s really about your heart posture. Right. It’s not going to change whether they got exposed or not. It’s going to determine how you react to it.

And I think we see this a lot with ministries out there that are specifically heresy hunters who their entire platform discredits others. You know, it’s not that, you know, one video out of every, you know, 20, 30, they talk about some thing that just happened in the news. It’s specific channels and I can name, I can call them by name.

[00:27:04] Drew: I am God

almighty.

[00:27:07] Tim: Yeah, I’ve only seen that video like 60 Times. But these are people that will call out the bigger names and pull out a clip and then say and do a whole video about that. These are heresy hunters who, and they have a critical spirit even though they think they’re defending truth. They do.

The other thing. And this is also a Pharisee spirit. And what did the Pharisees do? They were religious. They were proud. They had a form of religion without any power. They ignored the truth when it was right in front of them. The truth being the man, Jesus. They ignored him, even though he was the fulfillment of the scriptures they believed in.

They refused to see him because he didn’t look like. How he thought they would. Right. And so this is what happens with heresy hunters too, is they have a form of truth and no, no power, no Godliness, no holiness, no love for the people that are calling out, even though they say no, I love you.

That’s why I’m calling you out, not how it works. And so I think we have to be careful with supporting people who specifically, I’m not talking about one video. I’ve done a video in the past about people, I’m sure, but I’m talking about specifically make a platform to call out certain people. And that’s their whole MO.

That’s what they do. And I think also you know, I want to talk about this for a second is people who call out celebrities. So think about like Kanye West, right? When, as soon as he came to Christ, there was this huge, just, it was constant. Astro

[00:28:26] Drew: started wearing Yeezys all the Time.

[00:28:29] Tim: Yeah. But people that immediately say, well, let’s wait and see the fruit instead of celebrating that he’s come to Christ.

Now here’s the thing. In hindsight. All right. Not a lot of fruit. They’re going on right now. I’ll give you that. But that’s because we’re a few years in at the moment. You had no idea what the fruit would be like. So how dare you call it out and say like, no, his conversions not real because I can’t see years worth of fruit.

That’s not how you judge a conversion. You celebrate the conversion and say, I’m here with you. I’m going to help you along the journey and pray for you. That’s what you do. And now you have Kat Von D Who’s come out right with to Jesus and baptized. And you have the same type of people that say, Oh, well, she still has tattoos or she still has this on her profile on Instagram, or she still has this.

Yeah. That is the critical spirit. Instead of saying, praise God that she has seen the light that she’s baptized. She’s a week into her Christianity and you expect her to be on a sanctification road that takes 20 years to get down. Like that’s not how that works.

[00:29:33] Drew: Yep, I remember when Justin Bieber came out and started doing songs with Chandler Moore and from stage even said like you just got to believe in Jesus and I would and I remember my first thought was like dude You don’t just have to believe in Jesus.

I was like, you know, like I immediately I Immediately was listening to this to this child prodigy get on a stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people and be like, you just got to believe in Jesus. And instead of being like, wow, he just said that to an arena. I wonder how many people are in it now.

I was like, well, you need to go further and talk about how it’s, you know, it’s not just belief, but it’s obedience and it’s relationship. And so I was pretty critical with that. Like I said, like looking at his life. If I had his life and I had his money, How would I have turned out? Well, I know how I turned out in my teenage and early 20 years with early twenties with little money . I can’t imagine if I had a lot of money. I know what happened with a little bit of fame. I wonder what would happen with a lot of fame, like, yeah, dude. We just can’t even imagine.

So yeah. I’m with you. It’s real easy. And real quick how you get to that spot.

[00:30:55] Tim: And now there’s, I saw an article NAS a little Nas he came out, yeah. Little Nas X He said that he’s going through a Christian phase Sure. In his music, but he’s not going to change his sexuality or his lifestyle.

[00:31:10] Drew: Right. Yeah. This was the guy who did the video. gyrating and twerking on top of satan, right? That guy. Yeah.

[00:31:17] Tim: In that case, I think it’s discernment to say, okay, he’s saying in his own mouth that he doesn’t really believe in God. He’s going through a Christian phase to get ever whatever, you know, to say I’ve done it type of thing.

It’s discernment. And you can discern things like back to the reason that we should have discernment. But the difference is I’m not going to blast him. I’m not going to do all this stuff. Now if he was to come to Christ and have a genuine repentance and Deliverance, hopefully, you know, then I’d be like, great, like whatever, you know, like that’s something we should rejoice in, but also to be able to we should look at the fruit of people, but realizing it takes a while.

And this is the same thing that happens in church as someone brand new. You know, we have some halfway houses and stuff that come to our church and Those people get saved and stuff and they still got mess to work through. They still got a mess to work out. And how accepting are we of them right in the church?

If they sit next to you and they don’t smell so good, or they don’t look like wearing their Sunday best. Like we as Christians, would we accept, you know, people coming into your church? If you’re listening who have that stuff going on, can you still love them? If they’re in your church and don’t look like you think they should

[00:32:26] Drew: Yeah, what we need to realize is that God does not love us because we change God doesn’t love you because you change He is the resource by which we are changed So when we get when we give our life to christ when we get baptized We then don’t wake up the next day changed and God’s like now.

I love you. No God Loves us and when we step into relationship With Jesus That becomes the resource that then changes us. So that takes time and that takes perspective. And we need to also recognize that the further away we are from some of these people, the celebrities, especially the further we are away, the less we know.

So, you know, I look at the Kanye, the Bieber, the Lil Nas X, and I’m like, man, I don’t know, it all sounds, it all, to be honest, it all sounds fishy and it all sounds great all at the same time. Right. So you just go, man, I hope it works out. Yeah. And you just, you know, but lock into the people that are around you and that’s where your, you know, focus needs to be.

But remember, like God is the resource. By which we are changed. It’s not something that we have to accomplish in order to gain a relationship.

[00:33:49] Tim: Yeah, that’s really good word. I want to read Romans 14 one. So this is Paul talking about eating foods that’s been offered to idols and He says in verse one, accept him who is weak in faith without passing judgment on his opinions.

For one person has faith to eat all things, while another who is weak eats only vegetables, the one who eats everything must not belittled. The one who does not and the one who does not eat everything must not judge. the one who does for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant to his own master?

He stands or falls and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards a certain day above others while another considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes a special day does so to the Lord. He who eats does so to the Lord for he gives thanks to God.

And he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. And then it goes on. For why then do you judge your brother or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written as surely as I live, says the Lord. Every knee will bow before me. Every tongue will confess to God.

So then each of us will give an account to himself to God. Therefore, let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. I mean, that’s very clear.

[00:35:13] Drew: It’s very clear. I mean, it’s,

it’s extremely clear, man. It’s extremely clear. So I actionable items here. Let’s say somebody is listening to this podcast right now. They’re driving down the road and they’re like, man. I think about people at my work, I think about people at my gym, I think about people in my family, I think, and all I do is think about what they should be doing.

How do we correct that thought process? How do we correct that habit? How does someone step into that?

[00:35:56] Tim: Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, my favorite verses, Romans 12:2 to don’t be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you’ll be able to discern God’s perfect and pleasing will for you.

So discernment comes by transforming your mind first. And if you think you’re struggling with a critical spirit, Or if it just creeps in from time to time, first of all, is you have to be alert to what’s happening in your heart. You have to be aware of what’s happening in your heart right now. Is there hurt?

Is there pain? Is there frustration? Is there something happening that you haven’t worked out or haven’t spoken? Right? I was just talking to my son last night and there was things that he was bottling up that had to come out verbally. And I just told him, which. We all can remember is that when you start to bottle things up and not speak it out, there is power in releasing it verbally to someone else.

And so we have to remember that be alert to what’s in your heart. Number 2 to how to expose a critical spirit before it starts to grow is to check your motives. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you speaking to that person because you really care about them. You really love them and you’re willing to walk along the journey with them or you just doing a quick.

Hey, you’re wrong. And here’s why. What are your motives for why you do what you do if you’re going to comment online, if you’re going to do a whole video, if you’re going to make a point to tell the pastor something you don’t like, have you prayed about it? Have you sought wisdom from someone else before you bring it up?

Is it something that is a critical spirit or is it something that is it just something you don’t like? Or is it something biblical that he needs to know? So check your motives focus on your own sin, not that of others. So we all have stuff we’re working on. It goes back to what I just read in Romans 14 is that we will all stand before God, all of us, and there’s no temporary judgment now that we get to impose upon people, right?

There’s no, we don’t get to rule and to claim that someone’s condemned. That’s God’s job. And so focus on yourself, focus on your own sin. How to expose a critical spirit, being an encourager, even if you’re not someone else, not really in my thing. I’m not someone who encourages others. Maybe you should try, maybe you should do it.

Even if it’s uncomfortable, maybe you should just say, I’m going to send one encouraging text a day, right? That’s something tangible that you can start doing today. There’s hundreds of people in your phone you know, address book probably. And so pick one person, send an encouraging text. And by doing that, by practicing encouragement, you will not allow that bitterness and that critical spirit to build up because you’re releasing encouragement to others.

All right. Two more assume the best and others, unless confronted with absolute facts. So can we give people the benefit of the doubt? Can we just. Do that unless, you know, for absolute fact that they’re doing something, you know, that’s trying to hurt others. Can we just assume that the sermon you hear from a pastor, can we assume that he prayed over it that he sought God that he got wisdom from God that he.

He’s trying his best. He’s just trying. If nothing else, can we just assume that he’s trying and it is, need your encouragement. So assume the best in others. And then finally resist the devil because the war is in your mind. Ephesians six, we fight not against flesh and blood. And so the war. And the source, and that’s why it’s called a critical spirit.

OftenTimes it is not just your flesh. It is spiritual warfare causing you to instill division and to break down God’s church and God’s people. And we see Satan use God’s people over and over. He doesn’t come in with warlocks and witches into your church and say stuff, right. He uses God’s people who are.

are fallible who give into these things, who allow their mind to build up that critical spirit and then unleash. And then a war within happens of our own churches where believers will then tear down instead of building up.

[00:39:56] Drew: That’s right. That’s all really good stuff. I hope that everybody like is, if they didn’t write it down, I hope they go back.

Listen, write all that down, take a step, like, just take a step one way or another, move forward, and the gratitude’s a great one, starting your day with that, sending out encouragement to people, that’s something I try to do, and so I can speak from experience directly, like, start your day with that, cause, if not, It doesn’t take much to get you side swiped.

[00:40:26] Tim: So in all things, give thanks. You

[00:40:30] Drew: know, and gratitude is never silent. Gratitude is not something meant to be silent. So give gratitude. That’s great. I, yeah, I don’t have anything. I don’t have anything to add or take away. I think those are great steps for everyone to take. There’s something in there.

That everyone should be able to roll with them. And I’d be curious to know what that something is. You can always email us at eyes on Jesus podcast at outlook. com. So if something stuck out to you today that you’re like, man, this was really good. We’d love to hear about that as always like, and share the podcast, write a review, let people know that you found value here.

And until next Time, this is Drew and Tim saying, go with God, grow in discernment and keep your eyes on Jesus.

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