Here we go again! Some people just don’t get it. As I’ve said again and again, Facebook can be used for good or bad. Sadly many people choose the latter. I love it when people share their blessings on Facebook and I like it when they share their burdens–asking for prayer. And it’s interesting to see the pictures and read the stories related to their experiences. But I hate it when people air their dirty laundry–especially when it involves the Lord’s church!
Churches are hurt by members from within far more than from its enemies without. Every time you criticize or attack a member of the church, whether you name them or not, you are harming the reputation of the church and hindering its ministry. When you talk about the sins of others publicly you generally do more damage than that which was done by the person who sinned in the first place. So–whose sin is the greater? If someone has offended you, your obligation is to go to that person alone and deal with it in private, not discuss it with others( Matthew 18:15).
Attacking fellow believers and slandering the Lord’s church is a serious offense– so serious that it could bring God’s wrath down upon the head of the guilty party. As everyone knows, there are those who are looking for any reason to criticize the church and they are quick to tell us that they don’t attend because “there are too many hypocrites in the church”. When you openly attack those in the church you are providing them with more ammunition and helping them feel justified in never attending the church. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes!
A. B. Simpson said:
I would rather play with the forked lightning, or take in my hands living wires, with their fiery current, than speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies.
You may often wonder, perhaps, why your sickness is not healed, your spirit filled with the joy of the Holy Ghost, or your life blessed and prosperous. It may be that some dart which you have flung with angry voice, or in an idle hour of thoughtless gossip, is pursuing you on its way, as it describes the circle which always bring back to the source from which it came every shaft of bitterness, and every idle and evil word.
Let us remember that when we persecute or hurt the children of God, we are but persecuting Him, and hurting ourselves far more.
Lord, make me as sensitive to the feelings and rights of others as I have often been to my own, and let me live and love like Thee.
THINK ABOUT IT!
