Thought for the day .. the Sin of Slander ...

I thought I would share a devotional written by Bob on the sin of slander. It seems to be so prevalent -- and in holiness churches. Scary, isn't it? I also need to remind myself of this because it is so easy to get caught up in this sin ...

Sin of Slander
Bob Bedford
Colossians 3:8

When Jesus summed up the last six commandments, he said to “love your neighbor as yourself.” For most of us, our main interaction with others is verbal. Specifically, the 9th commandment deals with our speech, “Do not speak falsely regarding another.”

In the letter to the church at Colossi, Paul instructs them to “put aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander (blasphemy) and abusive speech (filthy communication) from your mouth.” (Col. 3:8 NASB) This list seems to incorporate the sins which are tolerated in even evangelical or holiness churches. The word translated ‘slander’ is “blashpemin” which the KJV gave as ‘blasphemy’. The use of the word ‘blasphemy’ has usually been viewed as words against God. But the clear definition is abuse against anyone, specifically “wounding one’s reputation by evil reports.”

A report is evil if its intent is to hurt another – it doesn’t matter if the report contains any facts. Whenever I hear a negative story, I immediately want to know if that person has talked to the one they just talked about. If they have not, then I view the report as incomplete at best and is usually corrupt. I also want to know why a person is sharing the story in the first place. If they aren’t part of the problem or part of the solution, it’s usually evil speaking.

Jesus was very clear about the source of slander and it’s not from another person. In Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:22, He tells us that slander comes from the heart. When we hear a story and our heart is pure, we don’t believe it or repeat it. But if our heart is predisposed to evil, we listen to stories; adopt them in our heart, and then “out of our heart our mouth speaks.” Paul is writing to Timothy calls such as “conceited and knowing nothing” and whose actions lead to “strife, abusive language, evil suspicions and constant friction.” (I Timothy 6:4-5 NASB)

Wouldn’t it be great to go to a “church of pure speech” where Christians blessed each other and devoted themselves to building each other up? Paul gives us a directive: “Let no unwholesome (words of no value) word proceed from your mouth but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Eph. 4:29 NASB)

So we have a choice: speak hurts from an evil heart or speak grace from a healed heart. The church will only have an effective witness when we are a group that heals its wounded, builds up the weak and protects the strong. Christ wants to turn the sin of slander to the goodness of grace.