Mark 7:24-30 (NIV)
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
28 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Did Jesus just call this woman a dog? Did He just say that she didn’t deserve a miracle from Him? Not exactly, but He did turn her down.
What would you have done? Would you have walked away insulted or offended? Would you have gotten angry? Would you have sought some means of retaliation? Would you have spread the word that Jesus was unkind? What did this lady do?
She took it in stride. She did not let it discourage or dissuade her. She persisted with humility. She accepted the criticism but would not give up.
When faced with criticism, how do we react? Do we get our feelings hurt and become discouraged? When criticized, we should carefully and humbly consider the criticism. Any truth that we find in it, we should take to heart. If we don’t agree with it, simply discard it. But don’t let it derail you. Don’t let it stop you. Don’t be offended. In fact, if it came from someone who cares about you, be GRATEFUL that they had the courage and concern for you to take the risk to tell you something they knew you wouldn’t want to hear.
Humble persistence. Press on. Let nothing move you. With God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!
-pk
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