Your Own Worst Critic...

My colleague and friend Barb, and I were trained last week on a new assessment (Judgment Index).  It measures a lot of things but one of the items that shows up is how self-critical we are.  I think in 100% of the assessment results I saw in training, participants were too self-critical. We're really hard on ourselves.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians says (1 Cor 4: 3b-4), "I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me." He says it's not our job to judge even ourselves.  Leave it to God.

Robert Hartman, the creator of the Judgment Index, found that people who learned to be less critical of themselves were much more effective in living up to their potential - their capacity increased. 

Think about it - if we can practice grace and forgiveness with ourselves, wouldn't it be even easier to practice it with others?