Your Daily Devotional for June 1, 2006

June 1, 2006

 

A Slanderous Report

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.”

 

Romans 3:7-8

 

In this passage of Scripture, we see the Apostle Paul’s response to the Jews who had been falsely accusing Him. They were calling Paul a liar because they accused him of teaching that a person could sin however they wanted. They said that grace undermined the law and offered people an opportunity to sin.

 

The Apostle Paul did not teach this at all! Verse seven says, “For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?” Paul was saying, “I’m not teaching that there’s no judgment, for I am also under the punishment of sin!”  It seems as if the Jews around him were always twisting Paul’s teachings and were lying about him.

 

We see in verse eight that Paul says, “And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.” He uses the phrase “as we be slanderously reported.” Not only was he accused but other people were lying to confirm this accusation, “…as some affirm that we say…”

 

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:1, “A good name is better than precious ointment.” When someone slanders your name, then automatically, you lose your reputation and a lot of people’s trust. Satan would love to have you labeled at your work as the weird person that believes in God. Friend, do not respond to this kind of accusation with anger or with accusations against them. The Bible says in Proverbs 26:4, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”

 

During a recent leadership conference, we had a local news reporter come to write a story on what was happening at our church during that week. We had given her a schedule with all of the sessions and their titles so she could understand what was going on. She had wanted to meet me so she came up to my office and said, “I really would like to talk to you, but right now, I want to go to the session that’s going on downstairs!” It was a session on what we as a church believe and some of the basic doctrines of our church, and she approached that session with a political agenda rather than just reporting on the event. It was amazing to see some of the things that she wrote in her article. She misrepresented the spirit that was going on here during that conference.

 

People are not always kind in what they say; they will hurt you with their words, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue to pray for them. Your coworkers still need to be saved, even if they do slander your name. Even when those around you gossip about you, they are watching to see how you as a Christian react. Do not ruin the name of the Lord by your response!  Pray and ask God to give you patience to endure difficult times so as to better represent Him.

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