Limiting our Leaders

I was in a recent leaders gathering when one leader spoke of being in a season of heightened criticism. Another leader brought up the scripture of Jesus in Mark 6, how Jesus was not able to do miracles because of the people's lack of faith. The connection stunned me! I had always read this as my faith and Jesus. This leader was pointing to the power of faith or criticism in human leaders. When we believe in our leaders we encourage them and they fly higher. When we are discouraging they do less! And the bad word is they do less because of my criticism! Maybe the gift of encouragement is a big deal after all. Maybe our faith in the spiritual leaders we have been given opens or closes the future for many others. When you are in a culture of faith, of those who see God moving in you and believe in you it is easier to believe in yourself. On the other hand, in a culture of criticism you will likely (at least eventually) believe the critic and begin to doubt yourself and the God who lives within you.

The result is the culture of criticism can ruin the move of God through a leader to bless the very people who are criticizing! The people criticized Jesus, "Just a carpenter's son! We know too much about this guy to believe in him." And as a result, their friends and family were left in their diseases, the people could not open their ears to the Kingdom of God, and they were stuck. Makes me wonder how powerful criticism really can be… not just limiting the life of the leader but the lives of those who do criticize!