Don’t settle for less, #04: Don’t dwell on your haters

Don’t dwell on your haters.  It’s the fourth in a series of traits for successful people in the secular world that we’re going to look at.  However, we’re going to see how these same traits can be applied to becoming a “successful” Christian.  Someone who not only has an idea what Christianity is really about, but who also lives it.  Finally, who also does the Great Commission and not what Dallas Willard calls the Great Omission. Don’t settle for less, #04: Don't dwell on your haters is article #6 in the series: Settling for less. Click button to view titles for entire series With that in mind, here’s the fourth, from 23 Things Successful People Never Do on bestlifeonline.com: Don’t dwell on your haters 

Everyone's a critic. Sometimes it's helpful to know what your haters are saying about you, but you don't want to let them plant seeds of self-doubt in your mind, and you definitely don't want to internalize their critical voices. It's easy to become so focused on proving the haters wrong that you forget what you wanted to do in the first place. So the best solution is to tune them out.

"Successful people know they're doing amazing things with their life, and continue to focus on their dreams and goals," says Lindsey Dinneen, a success, wellness, and lifestyle coach at Life, But Better. "View your opposition as supporters in disguise, because they wouldn't hate or compete with you if you weren't 'worthy' of their notice."

Before I get into the quote above, I want to point something out regarding the image I chose for this one.  It's a dove.  You know - the symbol for the Holy Spirit.  But look closely.  Zoom in if you can.  You'll see that it's actually made up of knives, assault weapons, rifles, hand grenades, pistols, bullets, rockets, and tanks.  I chose that because it's indicative of what we need to do as Christians.  Take those things aimed at us, and give them to God.  In Christian-speak, lift them up to the LORD. There is, of course, a right way and a wrong way to do that.  Giving them to God and then proceeding to reverse their course and return them to the sender is the wrong way.  Worrying about them is also the wrong way.  Letting God take care of them - that's the right way.  I'm not going to go into more detail on that thought here.  However, you can read about it in The problem of “handing it over to God”.

Don't dwell on your haters - does that mean tune them out, or know something about them?

I feel like there's a disconnect in what bestlifeonline.com is saying on this one.  Notice these three statements:

1. Sometimes it's helpful to know what your haters are saying about you
2. The best solution is to tune them out
3. View your opposition as supporters in disguise

If you were taking one of those tests where you identify the statement that doesn't belong with the others, you'd say #2, wouldn't you?  If you tune out your haters, how can you know what they're saying about you?  You can't.  And how can you view them as supporters in disguise if you tune them out?  Again, you can't.  And since I think #1 and #3 are the best choices, I'm going to discard the second one.  That's true for the secular world.  But maybe even more so for us as Christians.  And that's what I'm going to focus on here.  Why it's so important that we actually do pay attention to the haters.  For our sake.  And for theirs.

Don't dwell on your haters - but do spend time with them

Huh?  Spend time with them?  Even in the secular world, there a saying that some people go by.  Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.  But that's to protect yourself from them.  As a Christian, there's a different reason for spending time with our enemies.  Remember the kinds of things Jesus did in that regard?

The Calling of Matthew - Matthew

9:9-13 pp — Mk 2:14-17; Lk 5:27-32

Mt 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.