‘Talk is cheap!’
I’ve heard this cliché used in several places and I’m sure I’ve used it more than once too. I was in a meeting recently and the speaker made some comments that painted a picture of this cliché in the church. He said that the easiest thing we do when one of us falls into sin is to spread the news, pass judgment and cast aspersion.
This is so true, especially in our social network generation, ‘gist’ travels faster than the speed of light. You will hear comments like: “How could he stoop so low to do that?”, “He is a disgrace to the Kingdom of God”, “I thought as much! I have been suspecting him since.” These comments come out easily from us and they do more harm than good, both to the person involved and to the church.
More often than not, the ‘accused’ persons end up spiritually lost. The world does not accept them and the church treats them as lepers, depression sets in and they go on a downward spiral. The outcome would be the opposite if we could decide to follow the advice of Paul in Galatians 6: 1-3
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
If we actually sit back and think about how God forgives us each time we fall into sin; how He welcomes us back with open arms like the father of the prodigal son, we would realize that we owe it as a debt to help restore anyone that missteps. The least we can do is to pray for the person and not help in spreading the story of the ‘fall’. If we stand, we only stand by God’s grace.
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