On Getting Lots of Criticism – and Praise

For now, we take the good with the bad:

Unless you live in a cave somewhere all by yourself, you will be in some sort of social setting. We are social beings, and most of us regularly interact with others. As part of living in society, we will get both good and bad thrown our way by others.

Human beings need to get affirmation. It is hard to keep going at times without a bit of positive feedback. People also need constructive criticism now and then. The problem is, most folks seem to be much more eager to criticise, attack and chew out others than they are to offer a bit of praise and thanks.

Anyone in any form of leadership will know about this. They might have leagues of adoring fans, or legions of ardent haters. Those in Christian leadership will also know all about this. None are immune from getting some sort of feedback – both positive and negative.

Given the sort of ministry I have been involved in for many decades now, I have known all about this. Praise and criticism will certainly flow your way. If folks are highly sensitive to what others think or say about them, they may need to reconsider becoming involved in any kind of public role. There will be so many folks quite happy to let you know what they think about you.

Long ago I used to have two manila folders that I regularly added material to. This was before things like the internet and email, so they mainly contained letters and notes that were sent to me. One folder contained all the hate mail and abusive, nasty and ugly tirades that were mailed to me.

The other contained ‘fan mail’ – those letters thanking me or praising me for the work that I was doing. Needless to say, the first folder was always a whole lot thicker than the second one! It is quite easy to get lots of haters, but not as easy to get those who praise you. After a few years I stopped adding letters to these folders. But there are a few basic lessons one can glean from this.

-Sadly this is part of the job description of the sort of work that I – and others – do. If you want to get involved in sharing truth in the public arena, commenting on political and social issues, standing up in the culture wars, and proclaiming biblical verities on a regular basis, there will be a lot of reaction – and most of it will be negative, critical and hostile.

-It is exactly for this reason that so few Christians will stand up and speak out. They cannot handle all the hate and abuse, and they just want to be liked by everyone. So they will zip their lip when it comes to the vitally important issues of the day, be it the sanctity of life, the war against marriage and family, the erosion of freedom, and so on.

-Some might say, ‘Bill, I am not as courageous as you are’. I can assure these folks that I am far from courageous. Indeed, I actually really dislike controversy! I would rather NOT be involved in all this political, cultural and ideological warfare. But I care too much for my children and the world I live in to allow fear to prevent me from taking a stand. We all need to take a stand in various ways.

-Living the Christian life as a whole can be a rather thankless task. Even if you steer clear of controversy and the tough issues of the day, simply seeking to be a faithful Christ-follower does not get you a lot of praise. The world certainly will seldom sing your praises, and fellow believers might be more inclined to find fault than to offer compliments. Recall how only one of the ten lepers healed by Jesus went back to thank him.

-Our job as believers is simply to be faithful and to share our faith and be salt and light. This will not win us lots of friends and the applause of others. It will alienate many. But we must be true to Christ, all the way to the end, just as he was faithful, all the way to the cross for our sakes.

-Part of the reason that I used to keep those two folders was this: If I started getting a bit too cocky or proud of myself or think I was doing such a great job, looking at some of that hate mail could help bring me down to earth somewhat! And if I started getting gloomy and depressed, reading some of the praise letters could help raise my spirits a bit.

-What we should mainly seek to do is aim to please just one person: God. We should not overly concentrate on what other folks think about us. But being human, too much criticism and hatred can take its toll. And too much commendation and praise can result in pride or getting a wrong view of ourselves.

-In a recent article I said this: “All glory to God for any good CultureWatch might have done over the years. If I hear the words ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:23), it will be reward enough. But I also must bear in mind these words: ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’ (Luke 17:10).”

Speaking of that article, it had to do with leaving a legacy and possibly passing the baton on to someone else. As I get older, I cannot pretend I will be around for many more years to come. That piece is found here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/05/01/on-passing-the-baton/

Some kind comments came in to that article on my website. And when I shared a bit of it on the social media, more very nice words of thanks and encouragement were offered by some folks. Thanks to one and all for those nice thoughts and words.

But as I have said often before, it is in the next life that we will really find out what sort of life we lived, and what sort of impact we have had. As just mentioned, the main thing we will want to know is if we have been good and faithful servants, and if we have pleased our Lord in our service for him.

But we will also learn about those we had an impact on. In addition to my current public ministry, I have also spent many years lecturing in various Bible colleges. In both cases, I only hear a fraction of what people might think. Most of my former students for example I have never heard from again. But a handful might contact me and thank me for what I did as a teacher.

So too with CultureWatch and all the related work that I have done here in Australia for some 36 years now. I hear from some folks, and I get some feedback now. But I will have to wait till the next life when I discover how many others might have been helped, or blessed, or ministered to, or encouraged, or even converted because of my meagre efforts.

As I say, all credit and glory will need to go to God of course. But still, it will be interesting to hear from a few folks I would imagine, and it will be pleasing to know that some of what I did was of some lasting value for Christ and the Kingdom.

So if you are getting hammered and attacked and hated on now for being a Christian, and for your ministry for the Kingdom, bear in mind that your labour in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). You might have to wait a while before you finally learn just how much good you have in fact done, but it will make up for all the grief, derision and opposition that you are now getting.

So hang in there and keep fighting the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12). It is always worth it.

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