Flee from Gossip!

A gossip betrays a confidence;
so avoid anyone who talks too much. (Proverbs 20:19)

One the surface, one should notice that the bible does not call the gossip, a gossiper. The gossip inculcates the act of gossiping into his or her whole nature. They are by their nature a *gossip*. These people go about their daily lives seeking to spread rumors, lies, innuendo, and deceit. They readily acknowledge the alleged sins and character flaws of those they would seek to impugn. The gossip does not edify, they assault. The gossip does not consider the other as greater than themselves rather they consider themselves as the right and proper arbiter of a truth that may be devoid of reality. How quickly even the Christian finds himself or herself engaged in such malicious and devilish tale bearing! Worse still, is when the Christian confronted with the foul nugget of gossip does not reprove its messenger and instead joins together himself and by extension Christ with the malice. Our Lord was silent before his accusers and yet his children rush headlong into accusation by enjoining our dear Lord with an unrestrained and odious breach of confidentiality and degradation of those whom God has created.

Wisdom resides in the restraint of the tongue. As it is written where words are many, sin abounds! Christians who are given to many words must guard against the sin implicit with verbosity. Words not weighed are found wanting, a loose tongue is much like the rattle of the snake so named, once the rattle begins the poison laden bite of gossip is not far behind. In the same way we avoid the snake by hearing its rattle so to we avoid the forked tongue of the gossip by moving away from those who talk too much. Our confession should be thus, though we are goaded often into gossip we flee from it by stilling our lips.

 

Read Full Post »

Knowing Him

I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1:12

To be shamed is to feel that one’s humanity has come into question. Our human nature does not like to feel shame, great pains will be undertaken to avoid this feeling. We hide from all that will shame us whether that is our behavior or a sinful act exposed. The apostle says that he is not ashamed, no matter how the world would scoff or mock, in Christ we can have great boldness that our sins will never haunt us with the specter of shame.

Conjoined to his boldness, he mentions the hallmark of the Christian life. We must truly know him who we have believed. To know Christ is to know that he is trustworthy and he has canceled our sin debt. Our sins will never shame us by being exposed, as they are removed from us and his righteousness is imputed to the believer. If you are truly persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, then he must be able to keep that which we have committed to him, our very lives. To stop here is to truncate our Savior’s job, he has promised us that we will not feel shame, and that we will not stand judgment rather he is faithful to remove our sins and present us to the Father. Knowing him is trusting him.

Read Full Post »

Has the persecution come?

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.        Matthew 5:11-12 NIV

The hallmark, yea the leading indicator of a Christian’s fully devoted life may well be the persecution that follows. Are you spoken well of in your sphere of influence? You can rest assured that you have no part with Christ. Does your manner of speaking easily translate from the world to the church? Have no fear, for your persecution will not come. The greatest danger to church is friendship with the world. Christians who practice yoga, celebrate Halloween and carry on as if there is no discernible difference between the Christian worldview and all others will never raise the ire of hell.

However, if you mark yourself as a follower of Christ, unafraid and unashamed to name his name rest assured the world will hate you. When a man denies his own deity and acknowledges his utter inability to save himself the world’s repulsion is undeniable and unavoidable. When one dares to point out the sinful condition of this world and offers the untenable dichotomy between God’s justice and a fallen world, make no mistake you will lose your respectable reputation. And yet, the servant is no better than his master. Why then Christian should you be better than our Lord?

Have you a part in his suffering? You can rejoice for you are one of his children and your reward is great.

Read Full Post »