The Preaching of the Cross...

I listened to this sermon
the other day:
Satan Found a Whisperer

by Keith Daniel
and it caused me to reflect:

A few years ago,
I was ignorantly caught up
in being 'honest',
in the way some undiscerning people
define honesty, based on some
false teaching that is very popular
these days.
It involved tale bearing,
 and airing struggles that
revealed the sins/faults/failures
of others to people who had no
 business hearing these things.

Through a series of
heart breaking events,
God put me into situations where
I was the object of
tale bearing/false accusation
and where I had to undergo the
Pruner's Knife in this area.

Through the gossip that separates
 very friends and plunges like a knife
into the deepest part of the heart,
I became aware of how God
really views tale bearing...
(He ranks it up right up there with
murder! Truly, from my experience,
it DOES murder the spirit of a person,
plunging them into a grief and loss
so deep it can hardly be explained.)

I am glad that I know the Father
who knows me infinitely,
and Who is not willing to let
me even innocently
walk separately from Him.

I am sorry it took hardship
and this experience to
open my eyes
but I am so thankful
to have the eyes of my
understanding enlightened.

I am newly sobered,
knowing that I cannot
be right without Him.

My encouragement is that we walk carefully,
 not going from one ditch into another.
Sometimes people
are in reaction to terrible things that
happened in their past
that should never have happened,
who simply jump into the opposite ditch
and include gossip and tale bearing in their
belief of 'being honest'.
Be very careful who you listen to,
and most of all Who you follow.

FOLLOW JESUS!

The Secret of Jane

Sometimes
love covers a multitude of sins
while helping the helpless.
And in doing so,
it is silent where modern teaching
says to 'be honest'...
and to be truth tellers.
Beware...
it may all sound so freeing
and so right,
but weigh it with the whole counsel
of God before you use your
mouth to share with others
what may be unedifying,
or gossip,
or cause others to become
involved who have no business
being involved.

I write this,
not to sweep sin under the rug,
nor to turn a blind eye
on the oppressed,
but to sound the cry
that there is a right and a wrong way
to use our mouths,
even in sharing hearts.

Be careful who you share things with.
Some day, the people you talk about
just might make their wrongs right,
and would you really want to be responsible
for having passed on their wrongful deeds
in tales to others, and keep the
memories alive long after
they have been repented of?

These are things I've been thinking of
and experiencing, observing, and asking God
about for years because
I believe it is important to get it right.
Therefore, let's keep asking, seeking and knocking
on His door.
He never disappoints!

God bless you keep you...
Love and blessings,
Marcia