Date: 06-30-2020

Title: Slander

(S) cripture:
    Titus 3:1-2 (NASB) Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

(O) bservation:
    Paul tells Titus to remind the people to live godly lives. He gives a number of ways in these verses. Submit to the governing authorities, be obedient and ready to do good. Be peaceable, considerate and humble toward others and do not malign or slander. Tall orders for people that are stuck on themselves or who only look out for themselves.

(A) pplication:
    There is so much here for me, but I chose to think today about maligning a person or as the NIV translates it, “slander”. I am not trying to find the legal definition but rather just what is Paul getting at for me. Slander is assigning actions and words to someone that were not theirs. It always goes to attacking a person’s character, like calling a person a liar to cause people to distrust them. The political rhetoric in our country has gone from honest disagreement and debate to name calling and assigning inflammatory motives to what people are saying. Political campaign ads are the worse. The real tragedy is that we find this has spilled over into our everyday conversations. Rather than simply stating what a person has said we must also assign a negative motive to it. That to me is slander. It violates most of what is contained in these verses. Even though I might disagree with some of the policies of the present administration, I am tired of those who disagree assigning sinister motives to the president’s decisions. We can disagree without the personal attacks. When we condone that in our discussion of national policies it is easy to allow it in our personal disagreements and church conflicts, too. We are always better served by dealing with the issue rather than resorting to personal attacks. The kingdom of God is not served when we stoop to slander to get our way or to win an argument. Today I commit to dealing with issues without personal attacks. I will refuse to malign or slander. I do not need to assign motives to others I must simply make sure mine are honoring to the Lord.

(P) rayer:
    Lord, keep me off the high horse of pride. Let me deal with the issues and let me act with humility and grace toward all people. Let my life reflect you. Amen