Critical Thinker

           When we hear said of someone that "he's a critical thinker", or "he's really good at critical thinking", what do we think of?  Personally, my thoughts almost immediately lean toward several avenues;

• the guy is a CEO or a bigwig engaged in high corporate level strategic planning
• or, the guy might be a very learned professor, rife with all kinds of degrees
• or maybe the guy is an average guy blessed with a high IQ, whereby he is able to easily evaluate most any situation and react in a most positive way.

           Seldom, if ever, do I think about someone like myself.  And yet, I am a critical thinker, just as many, many of us are--though we may not recognize that quality in us.  Truth be told, if honest numbers could be gathered, I would imagine that almost all of us are critical thinkers.  How can this be so?

           I'm pretty much convinced that most of us are critical thinkers in the true sense of the word.  In our brokenness it is character trait that is completely opposed to the kind of thinking that is Christ like.  We see, and look for, so often, the bad in others, or their faults.  And we compare what we see as we do that to our own selves.  Somehow, it almost seems easier to look at something another person does and immediately judge that action, or worse yet judge that person by that action, one which may well have been nothing more than a simple one time stupid mistake.  And, don't we get this tiny little bit of satisfaction out of it as we think "I wouldn't have done that?"

           If Jesus had been this type of critical thinker, I think we could safely assume he would never have been able to surround himself with 12 men whom He could call Apostles, simply because He couldn't have found any so good, clean and pure that all He could see any good in them.  Thank goodness His critical thinking was the good kind of critical thinking....he could see the good in those men even as everyone else could only see the faults.  Which, by the way, is how God sees us.

Bottom Line Thought:  How much time and effort do you waste on bad critical thinking, and how much does it get in the way of trying to see the good in others?