Today's Devotional

December 28, 2004

Subject:  Make 'Em Feel Bad

Titus 2:8 - "Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you."

I was living in Albany, Georgia in the early 90's.  I had really begun to try to live for Christ at that time.  In so doing, I had to shun a lot of the things that kept me from living for Christ.   I would often hang out with a crowd that wasn't really good for my spiritual walk and I especially had to shy away from women who were not "in the way."  So finally, after I had firmly planted roots at a good church and began my spiritual journey, a friend told me that the rumor was out that I was homosexual.  I was shocked and I wasn't.  I knew enough to know that one of Satan's prime strategies is to draw us in to defending ourselves in the hopes that we will exhaust all of our energy and efforts chasing down lies.  

Do you have any idea how many things are being said about you every day?  No, you really don't and that's a good thing.  I've heard so many people say, "well I just have to set the record straight."  Well while that may be your intention, you really can't set them all straight.  There are just too many records.  The one thing you can do though is walk uprightly before God.  That's what the scripture means when it says, "sound speech."  Our lives should be beyond reproach so that when people make up things about us or even spread rumors about us, they feel bad.

It was after spending time with a few friends in Georgia that year that I realized some of the things that people were saying, but they didn't matter to me then and they don't matter now.  When our goal is to live the Christ life, those who are of the contrary part will always feel ashamed of the way we live.  So today live your lives so that those who are intent on saying evil things about you feel really bad.  

Carlen