We've Been Too Hasty To Dismiss Critique

Have you ever heard someone say, "Don't bring me problems. Bring me solutions"?

It's always easier to critique old traditions than to establish better and new traditions. That should be our ultimate goal. But let's not err on the side of dismissing critique simply because the critic has no solution to the problem. The critic and the pioneer may come as two separate messengers. And neither carries the other's message.

We've got to stop throwing out the baby with the bath water. We've grown comfortable with an illogical standard that says, "If you don't have the solution, stop complaining about the problem."

But what if critique's deconstruction isn't supposed to take place at the exact same time as rebuilding? What if we abort the process of revolution because we dismiss critique that isn't accompanied by solutions? How many messengers have we turned away because they were "disqualified"?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:1-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

http://bible.com/111/ecc.3.1-8.niv

When critique comes, it may just be "a time to tear down." That doesn't mean a time to build isn't coming soon. And it doesn't mean you should ignore the time to tear down just because it doesn't present itself simultaneously as the time to build.

We've cost ourselves many opportunities for growth already. Let's move further in and higher up.