For my week three devotional, I read Psalm 15, which reads as follows:
1Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
3He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
4In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
In my quest to “be a better person” the only thing I can do is place the spotlight on me. As I was praying, I realized that if I spoke the truth and did not backbite, there are a lot of things I need not worry about. The least is being caught up in, “He said, she said.”
Speaking the truth seems easy enough. It’s much easier than having to cover your tracks to cover your lies. The truth has a way of coming out anyway. Sometimes people tell half truths, and having been told half truths I realize that the receiver knows something is missing. So, my prayer in this area was simple. Lord, help me to be a truth teller. It’s better to just remain silent if I can’t answer the question. In my close relationships, trust is important. If people can’t/don’t expect me to tell the truth, it doesn’t say much about my character.
The other thing is gossip. Gossip is one of those shady areas where sometimes my own curiosity (ok nosiness) sometimes gets the better of me. The truth be told, I don’t want to be known as a gossip. Lately, I’ve tried to take an “I don’t know want to know approach.” The truth is there are times when I do want to know. Then, after I know, I realize I was better off not knowing.
It’s one of those things were I don’t want anyone saying I said ABC, especially if I didn’t say it. But, if I am known as a gossip, then people would be inclined to believe the lie. However, if I am known to not engage in gossip, my character would speak for itself. Basically, when my ear is inclined to lean in and listen to gossip, it’s my clue to incline my ear in the other direction.
I want to be worthy of dwelling in God’s Holy Hill. I will sometimes look over and see what other people are doing and feel myself want to slip. It's like what's the point, but I have to keep my eye on God's Holy Hill. Narrow is the way.
1 comment:
Gossip is such a tough one! I had to make a life decision on this one a few years back. There were people at church that were nice and I kind of hung out with, but they also liked to gossip. I got really weary of all the gossip, so I decided to not go to activities where I knew those people would eventually sit around and gossip. For a while, I didn't go to many activities because I really needed to separate myself from them. I also fell out of the "loop" of knowing what was going on with people in general at church. I felt a bit left out! But after a while, it didn't bother me so much to not know everything about people. In fact, I felt a bit pleased when I wasn't informed about some other person's "dirt"! I eventually started to go back to activities, but steered away from the gossips and found myself making stronger friendships with people that didn't gossip. It wasn't easy and it wasn't quick, but I felt it was a very important shift for me. Good luck with your goal!
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