Dealing With Your Inner Criticਨਮੂਨਾ

I am a citizen of Australia which is part of the British commonwealth so King Charles is technically my human king, This affects my life almost not at all, but if he were to ever summon me to Buckingham Palace, it would be a great honor for me to have an audience with him.

When you meet a king or queen, there is a protocol. The sovereign speaks first. You don’t waltz into the palace and start gabbing your mouth. You enter and wait. The sovereign speaks first, then you are permitted to speak. It has always been this way. The sovereign also decides when the meeting is over. She or he gets the last word. And you would never correct your sovereign. Can you imagine mansplaining to a queen, for example?

I think the problem with our inner critic is we give it the first and last word. We just let it gab on and on like it is on auto pilot. We need to learn to contain it. Fortunately, we have a King who has the first and last word. God speaks, then we get to speak, then God speaks again.

Could it be that we struggle to relax into God’s love because our inner critic gets the first and last word? Some people are confused about this, they think it is a posture of humility to allow our inner critic to put us down. Actually it is quite arrogant to stand in the presence of your King who says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, who says that his love and care for you is so particular that he knows the number of hairs on your head. God says there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But your inner critic says, ‘I know better than you. I will condemn myself.’

That isn’t humble. Correcting your king is arrogant. But God is greater, isn’t he? And he knows everything.

It is difficult to stand in God’s presence and let him love us, isn’t it? It is quite vulnerable.

What might your life look like if you paused and contained your inner critic with the words of God? You may not be able to stop your inner critic from speaking, but you don’t have to let it go on and on. Today, begin your day by relaxing into God’s first word. If your inner critic has words with you, that’s fine, you can give it some room. But after it has said its piece, make sure to invite God’s last word.