You ever get that feeling when you are with someone, that they hold you suspect? That when you speak, they are pulling back and assessing, while at the same time giving you stink eye without realizing?
Recently I got confirmation that the person I am describing, really does hold me at arms length, as though I am not to be trusted. Words unexpressed, speak loudly in body language. I had to wonder why? and ask the question, Why would this person look at me sideways when I speak, give my opinions, offer help, or make suggestions?
Well, I am so glad I asked! Guilty, she was and is: guilty by association.
Unfortunately for this poor unwitting soul, she has been exposed to viciousness vocalized by two others that willingly bore false witness, against yours truly. I say false witness, because gossipers that speak about someone frequently, and then cheerfully break bread with the very same person they spoke badly about, are the worst and purest form of hypocrite. One must never trust, or believe, the words ushered from the mouths of people like this, and if anything, they must be held suspect.
Think with me now, dear reader. What does bearing false witness, actually mean?
I think of lies, manipulation, mean spiritedness, criticism, and a desire to wound another, or their reputation, when that person hasn't the chance to defend themselves, or establish that they have strength of character. A false witness is willing to undermine others in devious ways. I think of telltale signs that someone is guilty of hypocrisy, and has a gossipy nature... one of them is obvious obsequiousness; another is feigned humility; and yet another is excessive generosity. These can all be counted as covers for a guilty conscience, in order to continue relationship.
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain (James 1:26)
What to do, what to do, when confronted with information that confirms what we know to be true?
I have known for some time, that two people that are no longer in my life, engaged in malicious gossip about me. I bit my tongue, and am doing so now, choosing to refrain from confronting either of them. They know what they said, how often, and to whom. They must live with themselves, knowing that they are pretenders, liars, obsequious, duplicitous, and guilty, not because whatever they said was necessarily untrue, because perhaps, in their eyes, what they said and still say about me, they can somehow justify, but because they received my hospitality repeatedly, and when they hugged or kissed me goodbye, they drove an invisible dagger in my back each time they held me close.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be (James 3:10)
Dear reader, are you, or have you ever been, guilty of gossip? How about bearing false witness about someone because they irked you, you didn't like what they had to say, or you believed things about them, spoken to you by others, before you got to know them for yourself?
The ninth commandment is one to be taken seriously because of the damage it causes to the body of Christ when disobeyed and broken. Professing Christians must recognize that if they are gossiping and or bearing false witness, they are sinning against the Lord and their neighbour. One day, each of us will have to give an answer for every idle word spoken:
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36)
Today, I relied on God's strength to help me refrain from sending a message to one person in particular. I will allow her shame to condemn or hopefully, convict her to repentance. A gossip is an unsavoury type character, and they have difficulty holding on to long term relationships because they cannot be trusted: this said, I leave her and the other, and the other, and the ones you have encountered too, dear reader, to God.
In the mean time, I will turn the other cheek, and hope like crazy, that sooner, rather than later, these people get caught in the snares they have set for others, and that they fall at the feet of Jesus to ask Him to change their hearts and help rudder their tongue.
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile (Psalms 34:13)
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