Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father seek out and show us any offensive way the Spirit finds in us. Father, search us and show us what we can repent of. And then help us to obey you and repent! And then we can rejoice! You will hear our prayers! You will sing with us as we worship you! You will draw near to us as we, through repentance of sin, obediently draw near to you. We are saved from your wrath against our sin by the blood of your Son, not on a doorpost in ancient Egypt, but on the cross. Not saved for a moment, but forever. Father, forgive me. Oh wretched man that I am. You have forgiven me! Once in whole and then ever-after my feet, again and again! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Your Morning Song: "Instead of a Show" by Jon Foreman
Your Morning Scripture: Psalm 101:5 & James 1:26
Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly,
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart,
I will not endure.
Those who consider themselves religious
and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues
deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
...
I have heard this criticism of the church. You Christians get so worked up about some so-called sins, but you seem to ignore others. And then I keep hearing you say that all sin separates us from the love of God. Why do you never shut up about some sins and blatantly ignore others?
This is a very, very, very fair criticism.
We, Church, are often guilty, both as individuals and as a body of believers, of treating the Bible, God's revealed Will, like a buffet. Some of this. None of that. Lots of this. Ugh, that tastes awful. None of that.
In an effort to more fully live out the faith in Jesus we all claim to have been claimed by, let's take a look at a sin that we spend very little time addressing.
Gossip.
I have been very fairly accused of not being clear enough sometimes, so let me not do that.
Gossip is gross, disgusting, pathetic, evil, addictive, and hated by God. Don't do it. And if you do, throw yourself at the feet of God and repent. And then go find the one you hurt and repent. And then go find the one you gossiped with, repent. And then beg them to repent as well.
Gossip is the love language of the serpent in the garden, who was a murderer from the beginning. Would you speak like such a snake? Gossipers? You murder others not with your hands, but with your tongue.
Stop! Repent! Or God will destroy you! He will not wait forever for you to stop. And the longer you wait, the greater the consequences will be, even now building up into a shadow-casting tower, looming over you.
You cannot be one of God's children, brother or sister to Christ, or a part of His body, if you will not obey God's call to stop gossiping. You cannot claim to love God's family while also murdering them in secret with your unbridled tongue. You are lying to yourself. And your religion is worthless.
What are we to do? Let us run to our Heavenly Father in prayer, guided by the Spirit, forever welcomed by the Son, and beg Him as David did, to reveal any offensive way in us. May He show us whether or not we are gossiping. If He says we are, then we must repent to Him and to those we murdered with our tongues.
But if we are not gossips, then what? Think carefully of those you speak to. This is my struggle. How often have I heard gossip and not been as offended by it as God is? How often have I heard others murder one of my brothers or sisters and said nothing?
May we search our hearts with God's help. May we search our own relationships. And when we find gossip may we either repent or call others to repent.
Let us love what God loves. And let us hate what He hates. Or we will live apart from Him and His Will. And the guidance of the Spirit will fade to a dull whisper. And the presence of the Son will fade to a faint wishing.
Do not gossip. Do not be destroyed.
Let not your religion be worthless.
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