Don’t Criticize

Romans 14: 11 It is written:“ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. (NIV)
For a few weeks I have seen on social media some people criticizing the good that some churches and individuals are doing concerning the safety of their families. It reminded me of a story when I worked in fast food. The theme for that week was safety first, I learned so much about how to prepare food properly and how important it was that everyone who handled food knew what to do to keep our customers safe. A couple of our colleagues didn’t care to follow all the guidelines. This was my first time handling a situation like this. What could I have done? Tell them these are the rules and we are supposed to follow them? It didn’t work. I told them that customers can get sick and we could close the store, that didn’t work. After talking to them, they let me know with many words, that they didn’t care about the job, they came to work because their parents are kicking them out if they don’t. I prayed for them and told them that I didn’t want that for them, but I do need their help cause my family depends on me working. That seemed to work. They started following the guidelines! We don’t know what people are going through or why they think a certain way until we talk to them. When you feel the need to criticize, pray for them, talk to them and ask how you can help them instead.