Some of us in the church are so quick to spread the sins and failures of others, aren’t we? We love to talk, especially about the latest dudes who blew it. It might be the kid who was just arrested for dealing drugs. The next door neighbor’s unmarried daughter, who we just discovered is pregnant. The abortionist down the street. (No comment necessary here.) Or, the scandalous political figure, (or pastor) who was just exposed in a headline-making sexual scandal.
If it’s juicy… and especially sinful… we’re talking.
There are sins we positively abhor. Sins we are scandalized by. Sins we raise our eyebrows and voices against, waving our placards in self-righteous protest… oh yes. We shout ourselves hoarse to the world and whisper among ourselves, “Have you heard about…?”
(Oh, yeah, we do.)
Scandalized by other’s sins, yet so justisfied… in our own?
“Who… me?” we ask, all doe-eyed innocence.
One sad fact I have discovered in my thirty-some-years as a returned prodigal, is that we “The Redeemed,” are enormously tolerant of our own “acceptable-sins.”
I refer, in this case, to the sin of slander and gossip.
In churches I have attended since my return from “the far country,” I have discovered no sin is quite so rampant, indeed, quite so ENJOYED, as the sin of spreading salacious slander or malicious gossip.
(It does seem as if we enjoy the wounding of others.)
And, it does wound.
It wounds if it’s true… it devastates if it’s NOT!
We, with our whispering, our accusing eyes, and our very cold shoulders, sadly seem to relish pummeling another’s reputation (and heart) while we find these “slight sins” of ours—entirely understandable.
Really?
My Bible says, “…the person who keeps every law of God, but makes one little slip, is JUST AS GUILTY as the person who has broken every law there is.” James 2:10
Every law?
One… little… slip?
Our slips from God’s point of view make us guilty of breaking every law in His book. All of us, at one time, stood barefoot, naked, and guilty, at the foot of Jesus Christ’s cross. We all desperately needed a Savior—and still do.
Perhaps we should all remember that the next time a “juicy little tidbit” floats our way.
Instead of spreading the dirt, perhaps we should cast our eyes on the dust at our own feet.
What do you suppose Jesus might have written there… about us?
LET ME GIVE YOU HOPE TODAY
Oh, honey. Don’t weep so. I see, I hear… truly I do. Nothing that touches or concerns you is ever out of My care… but Sweet Heart—you must believe.
(Those tears in your eyes belie the fears in your heart.)
I have not abandoned you. It is your past; the cruel deeds of others, that accuse Me.
I AM your Father. I AM your Lover. The One who loves you with tender, perfect love.
I see your faults… so what!
You think what you do could make Me forsake you; stop loving you?
Never. Never. Never!
Come to Me… lay the heaviness of your broken heart on Me. That is what I came for… why I chose you!
I knew you needed someone who would never fail you… never abandon you.
(You think you deserve this treatment?)
No honey. No one deserves to be forsaken, but oh how many are!
Your failures are why I chose you.
Forsaken, and abandoned, so many times, and yet… look at you!
You shall be a trophy of My Grace.
Don’t despair. You won’t wear those wretched rags on your heart forever. Soon, yes soon, I will dress you in My splendid glory!
Let Me give you hope today. Cast all that ugly care on Me. (I can take it.) Trust Me just a little longer. If you could only see yourself, as I do.
Oh… what a jewel you are becoming… fit for a King! A King of kings!
(Hey, come to think of it, that’s Me!)
“Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Women With Destiny 