IF once the soldiers of Christ would get the proper thought, that slander and evil speaking are assassinations of the character of another, and that defamation is robbery of another's good name, the sooner they will see this matter in its truly awful light as it must appear in the Lord's sight; and once seeing the matter from this true, divine standpoint must awaken the new creature to the greatest activity possible in the overcoming of such works of the flesh and of the devil. Each will seek to purge out the old leaven of malice and envy and strife and crookedness and evil speaking, that he may be pure in heart, a copy of the Lord. -- Adapted from an excerpt of the article, "Prize Fighting Commended". ZWT, November 15, 1915.
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For many of us, the tendency of our fallen flesh is to gossip about other people. It is so easy to let our minds wander into thoughts based on what we imagine concerning what someone has done or said, so as to place such actions in an evil light. On the other hand, even if the other person has engaged in some evil conduct, rather than spread abroad such conduct, it would be best to refrain from speaking evil of such a person. We should remember that, in our flesh, we all have done bad things, and that by the way we may pass adverse judgment on others, we may also be doing the same to ourselves. -- Romans 2:1.
We should certainly get the correct thought related to evil speaking of others, so as to realize the seriousness of doing such. We should realize that making derogatory comments about others is actually the assassination of the characters of others. Defamation is the robbery of another's good name. How awful such must appear in the sight of our Lord Jesus and his God, Jehovah! As the child of God sees this matter from such a divine standpoint, the child of God would endeavor greatly to conquer any such desires of the flesh and Satan. As new creatures in Christ, we should give great diligence to eradicate the old leaven of malice, hatred, envy, strife, crookedness, and evil speaking, so that the new creature may be formed into a copy of God's Son.
We should not, however, set ourselves up as judges of others' evil speaking. We should, if possible, in some kind way point out evil-speaking, but it is our own self that we should be judging, with the purpose of correcting ourselves. Many times we may speak evil of another without realizing it at the time, but as we ponder our past actions we may later realize that we did indeed speak evil of others. Recognizing our past faults can help us endeavor to not repeat such again in the future.
Ronald R. Day, Sr.
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