It’s not always “the world” that’s the Christian’s greatest struggle. Sometimes it is the classic – “We have found the enemy and they is us.”
- “… to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men (Titus 3:2 NAS).
- Malign: to injure by speaking ill of; malign suggests specific and often subtle misrepresentation but may not always imply deliberate lying (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition).
Sometimes I think I’m the world’s greatest cynic. (Not really but I think you know what I’m saying.) And sometimes I do wonder if I sound like Pollyanna.
Because this seems so simple.
Don’t talk bad about each other. Don’t try to hurt someone with your words, even if they did hurt you, even if they “deserve it.”
- The Cynic: Like that’s going to happen.
- Pollyanna: Oh, what our world would be like if only we could listen to Jesus and be nice to everyone.
- The Cynic: Live in the real world, Sweetheart.
We say …
But it really is this simple. We say we believe in the Word of God, inspired, infallible, inerrant, God-breathed and all.
That’s what we say …
But when we bump these simple eternal truths aside for real world living, then what are we truly saying? God’s word only takes you so far on the journey.
And that certainly has an element of truth because God’s truth will not always take us where we want to go but without fail will take us where God wants us to go.
And here is the echo I heard in the room as I wrote this: “… holding to a form of godliness.”
- 2 Timothy 3:5 (NASB95)
… holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
So I’m asking: Whose journey are we on?
Because the journey, what we have our sights set on, determines whether or not we follow Jesus Christ and trust his words …
Or we just hold to a form …
And, yes, I’m talking to you, Mr. Real World Theology. Whose journey are you on?
So, I am going to wander along with Pollyanna for a minute or two and wonder. What would our world be like if we took these few words and tested them in our real worlds. Or maybe scale it back from the world and ask. Christian, what would our church be like if we lived these few simple words that Paul wrote to Timothy.
- “… to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men (Titus 3:2 NAS).
Maybe it helps to bullet the main points:
- Malign no one
- Be peaceable
- Gentle
- Showing every consideration for all people
So a couple more questions:
- Who makes the rules for this world?
- Who makes the rules that stand for eternity?
I’m going with Pollyanna … And Paul and Titus and God.
On God’s journey, on the path of Jesus, maligning someone, speaking of them in a way to harm, no matter how subtle the misrepresentation, is sin.
The classic may be when the arrow is introduced with this little dilly: “I am so concerned about so and so …”
Bringing glory to God to life (mine and yours) …
Let me suggest a definite way that we can bring glory to God: Letting his words constrain and direct our words and thoughts. Bow to God by bowing to his words and watch the transformation as you the clay jar move from the abstract, from the conception of bringing your Savior glory, to a genuine, bonafide reflection of Jesus Savior Redeemer in your daily routine.
That’s what I’m talking about.
First listening to God, not just reading the Bible, but hearing the Holy Spirit of God who is living in you if indeed you have eternal life in Christ, and then honoring God by following the truth of words that may or may not make sense to your “real world view” of God’s world.
It’s called faith. It’s called trust. It’s called God really is as wise as I proclaim him to be.
It’s called glory to God!
“Malign no one.”
