Receiving Feedback

Proverbs 27:5 “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” On Sunday one of our lay preachers Dr Charles Goh kicked off a sermon series on relationships within the church. He specifically addressed correction, how best to give and receive it. It’s a tough topic because we’re all human and don’t like hearing that we’re wrong, but scripture reminds us that it is our responsibility to give and take honest feedback to help each other grow. Yesterday one of my house church members gave me some constructive criticism on a new format we’ve been experimenting with. I thanked him for trusting me enough to be honest with me. I knew that he only had the best interests of the group at heart, and there was no personal attack on me intended whatsoever. But yet I felt a twinge of offense, so I had to catch myself before responding. This spirit of offense is such an effective way to sew discord into our lives. One exercise I’ve found helpful is to take all feedback to God, and ask if there’s any element of what was said that might be true in my life. No matter how ridiculous the feedback, and no matter how unqualified the person giving it, I find categorically that the answer is yes. So even if the rebuke was given out of spite, even if I’m better than 99.99% of people in this specific area including the person rebuking me, I still find that there’s always room to internalize and use this as a word from God to help me improve myself. By the way, any of you who are reading this have an open invitation to give me any feedback at any point in time. Lord thank you for your word, which makes it all so clear. I pray that you help me improve in taking feedback more and more each day. I know that my sense of identity and worth come not from others, but from you and you alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.