Slander

I have to give thanks for everything Christ gave me, because He freely gave me a second chance, He gave me true love. The thing is, I can easily praise Him on a day where everything seems to be going as planned. What’s hard is to love when you have been hurt, to worship when you feel alone. Yet the greatest time I feel alone is when I don’t feel like I am able to fit in. Even though Christ tells us to not try and please people, we feel that at least at church we are accepted.  Unfortunately that statement can be totally and completely wrong.

When a brother or sister in Christ hurts us in some way, either through gossiping or with words, we are called to forgive. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). This could be one of the hardest known scriptures that I face in my life today. I have been hurt repededly by a sister in Christ, who is very close to my heart. She is in my small groups, she sits near me in church, and she is always with my group of friends. It is very very hard not to get upset, and I won’t deny that sometimes I give into that feeling. But that’s NOT what we are made for. We are made to worship and almighty God, who loves us without restraint, and who asks us to do the same. Just as with any situation, difficult or easy to decide, we should always be looking towards scripture to see what Christ says about it.

“Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:16).  That goes for her, and for me. I have no right to gossip or to quarrel, "But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).  That’s not to be taken literally in the sense that I feel she is evil, but the words she has been saying, aren’t of God. I want to keep myself pure in every sense, I have to kneel and pray that God will give me a strong soul and a loving heart to be able to deal with all the slander.  As much as I want her to stop, I know that I can’t start doing what she is doing. “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler” (1 Peter 4:15). Murderer, thief and meddler, all in the same sentence. Meddling is defined as “an officious annoying person who interferes with others, or as one who interferes or busies himself with things in which he has no concern.” Someone who is officious is defined as “objectionably aggressive in offering unrequested and unwanted help or advice.”  It is just as bad to be a murderer as it is to put your nose into someone’s business. Advice is good, but do we really learn when to draw the line? 

How many of us want to know everything about anything, because I can definitely get like that. We should only be speaking in ways that will build each other up as brothers and sisters. Why hinder the closeness you can feel with Christ over someone else’s business? I understand there are different circumstances, like if you sister in Christ is dating a non-believer, but that just brings me back to my original statement, which is that all scripture is for teaching, and rebuking, kindly. We are all learning, every day. Not one of us is better than the other. Some have had more years to learn, other may just be finding their feet in Christ, but we are all under one father. We are all called to love each other. We may feel someone should do something one way, or the other, but the truth is; only Christ can change the heart, the soul, and the ways of people. So really, it’s our decision to give these issues up to Him so that he can solve them, or we can just harvest hurt. I pray that each of us can learn how to guard our own hearts, and seek deeper into our own relationships with Christ before worrying about others.