Last night was Life Skills (re:think) at
re:generation church (every Tuesday @ 7.30pm: http://www.regenerationchurch.co.uk/).
It was a truly thought provoking and inspirational session.
The night kicked off with an amazing Tajik woman
who came to share about the incredible work that God is doing in Tajikistan
through her and her husband’s joint work with Scripture Union (http://www.subi.org.uk/page14/page20/page20.html).
They are putting themselves in danger, reaching out to the Muslim youth and
families in Tajikistan, and spreading the Gospel.
I was really challenged by the amount of freedom of
religion and speech that we have compared to the people of Tajikistan and how
poorly we are using those freedoms! (this really tied in with the next section
of the evening, which I will get into in a bit).
She asked us to pray for three very specific
things, so it would be great if you could join us in praying for the following
three things for our brothers and sister’s in Tajikistan:
1. protection and safety for themselves,
their family and all their volunteers.
2. safety and courage for the children and
young people who have heard about God from them, but are too scared to become
Christians due to the potentially fatal repercussions from family and friends.
3. completion of their camp on their newly
acquired piece of land, on which they will finally be able to hold Christian
camps, pray and preach the Gospel (not freely allowed on other premises).
The next part of the evening was a very
thought-provoking talk on gossiping by Alicia. She has kindly forwarded me her
notes, which I have adapted below. Please take the time to read this and
seriously ponder on the gravity of the scriptures that she has included to
illustrate her points. Before I get onto Alicia’s notes, I also just wanted to
share two very relevant quotes that were posted on facebook today by two other
friends of mine:
Jamie (@JamiePoch)
wrote:
“I once read the following paragraph in a book by
Catherine Marshall called A Closer Walk. It had a significant impact on my
life. See what you think...
One morning last week He gave me an assignment: for one day I
was to go on a 'fast' from criticism. I was not to criticize anybody about
anything. For the first half of the day, I simply felt a void, almost as if I
had been wiped out as a person. This was especially true at lunch...I listened
to the others and kept silent... In our talkative family no one seemed to
notice. Bemused, I noticed that my comments were not missed. The federal
government, the judicial system, and the institutional church could apparently
get along fine without my penetrating observations. But still I didn't see what
this fast on criticism was accomplishing -- until mid-afternoon. That
afternoon, a specific, positive vision for this life was dropped into my mind
with God's unmistakable hallmark on it -- joy! Ideas began to flow in a way I
had not experienced in years. Now it was apparent what the Lord wanted me to
see. My critical nature had not corrected a single one of the multitudinous
things I found fault with. What it had done was to stifle my own creativity.
Criticism is a poison that infiltrates friendships, relationships in our
businesses, and even our own families. Like a wrecking ball to a condemned
building, our criticism destroys the spirit of those who are scrutinized.”
Michael (@jellyoats)
wrote:
“#GodPosts:
Your WORDS will tell others what you THINK, but your ACTIONS will tell others
what you BELIEVE.”
-----------------------------
Gossip and a tainted
tongue
Statistics on UK Gossip Magazine are ambiguous –
ranging from £24m – 8billion. Although the statistics are unclear, the
popularity of these magazines are not. If gossip affects the world around us
then it must have an impact on us, right?
The Bible’s perspective on
gossip?
When doing a ‘key word search’ on a Bible app, the
word ‘gossip’ has very negative connotations, sitting alongside words like
pride, untrustworthy, liars, God-haters, murder, insolent, arrogant, greed,
hate. {Romans 1:27-31}
The tongue has
the power to steer a soul off course: “1Not many of you should presume to be teachers,
my brothers and sisters, because you know that we who teach will be judged more
strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. Those who are never at fault
in what they say are perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3When
we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the
whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so
large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder
wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise, the tongue is a small
part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is
set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of
evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the
whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7All
kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have
been tamed by human beings, 8but no one can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we
praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been
made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11Can both
fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My
brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or grapevine bear figs?
Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water?” {James 3: 1-12}
“For the mouth speaks out
of that which fills the heart” {Matthew 12:34}. Often, it stems from pride, insecurity, arrogance
and dishonesty. We need to bear in mind that words have more authority than we
know. Think of the saying, “Sticks and
stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me”… Is that saying
really true? No: self-esteem issues and insecurities are not born only out of
physical abuse!
Imagine someone, complete stranger, walks in and
has an opinion of you based on a lie. Or relays a story in your life and it so
far from the truth, how would you feel? A good example of just how devasating
gossip can be (particularly when it is based on a lie) can be seen in this
video of the McCann family at the Leveson Inquiry: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15860071.
We should speak words that
have intent/purpose:
§ Good effect: “The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of
jewellery” {Proverbs 25:11}
§ Bad effects: Life damaging – causing
paranoia, anxiety, insecurity. Ruin reputations - breaking stigmas can be difficult.
Practical tips
in resisting gossip:
§ Build one another up (Ephesians 4:29)
§ Break the chain (think of the game
‘Chinese whispers’)
§ Disagreement (Acts 15, Paul &
Barnabas model how to respond)
§ Boldness to stand out from the crowd
(Psalm 101:5)
§ ‘I am really concerned about ‘W’ so I am
going speak about it to ‘X’, ‘Y’ & ‘Z’ ’. The pastoral way of doing things
– (1) prayerfully approach the person, (2) have a private conversation with the
person, (3) escalate the issue to someone in leadership.
§ Change friendship groups (Proverbs
20:19) – delete people on facebook, stop following people on twitter, sit in
different places in class, hang out with them less, confront what was said
§ As people, we will always have an
opinion about a person, situation, organization, but consider for once that
maybe your opinion isn’t valid.
§ Dealing with the deeper issues – gossip
can be borne out of a place of insecurity, arrogance, etc
§ Be reconciled (Matthew 5:23|4)
We are called to
be people of truth:
§ Each of us are called to worship in Spirit and in TRUTH (John 4)
§ “For I speak
the truth and detest every kind of deception” {Proverbs 8:7}
Speaking Truth has a
direct Impact on our Spiritual Walk:
“Who may
worship your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2Those
who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere
hearts” {Psalm 15:1-2}
“31Jesus
said to the Jews who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you remain
faithful to my teaching. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free” {John 8:31-32}
-----------------------------
Help to break the chain of gossiping and bullying
by making a change in the way YOU speak and act towards others today! You will
be amazed at the effect that you can have on others around you.
Blessings!
Ronell x
“No one gossips about
other people’s secret virtues” {Bertrand Russell}
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