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There's
a woman I know who to be honest has less than a kind spirit. She
revels in pointing out the flaws of other people and if she can't find
a flaw to exploit she'll make something up to try and paint others in a
flawed light so she can swoop in and claim to be the person with
answers to everything. I don't say this to hold her up for scorn (and
don't ask because I won't name her) but rather as an example of someone
who seeks to harm other people. When you're faced with someone like
that at work or school or church it's very tempting to respond in-kind
to those folks and fire back with some flaming arrows of your own. (I
know I've struggled with it at times.)
It reminds of that
quote from the movie The Untouchables where Sean Connery's character is
telling Kevin Costner's about "the Chicago way": "They pull a knife,
you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of
his to the morgue." Arguments with someone who seeks only to cause
problems for other people...or seeks to denigrate others for their own
pride or recognition...are like the people referred to in the quote.
The situations with them keep escalating because if you respond to them
in-kind or perhaps even a little worse things build and build until
finally you find that everyone's been hurt, everyone's been tainted and
quite possibly Christ himself has been smeared by your actions in the
eyes of those around you who haven't accepting Christ as Lord.
It's situations like this that get a lot of attention in Proverbs. For example, Proverbs 14:7 (ESV) says "leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words
of knowledge." Proverbs 18:6 (ESV): "A fool’s lips walk into a
fight, and his mouth invites a beating." Proverbs 26:4 (ESV): "Answer not a fool according to his
folly, lest you be like him yourself." Proverbs 29:9 (ESV): "If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool
only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet." So what do we do when
faced with those who speak foolishly (or, perhaps, post in their blogs
on the internet foolishly?)
Paul gives us a great answer in Romans. In Romans 12:14 (ESV) Paul writes "Bless those who persecute you; bless
and do not curse them." I think that's one of the lines for which the
phrase "easier said than done" was invented. When someone is lying
about you, something you had done or not done, your family, your
friends...it's hard to keep your mouth from turning around and doing
the same thing to that person or their family. Yet as you see when
you read this verse with the Proverbs, Paul is giving you a simple path
to follow to avoid situations where you can end up being the fool
yourself. In addition, your blessing them is showing Christ's love and
forgiveness through your deeds as well as your words (or, more than
likely, lack of certain words.) In this you might be able to break
through to them about their actions not being in line with God's will
for our lives...but at the very least you'll make sure that your
actions are in line with God's.
Realize
also that "bless" does not necessarily mean any kind of physical
action. It could simply be as easy as not responding to the person
with a biting or divisive comment on your own. Showing them the
courtesy of decent speech and dialogue can itself be a blessing to them
even if they don't realize this at the time.
Now, I am NOT
saying that you should never defend yourself when someone falsely
accuses you of something. Jesus defended himself by bringing up the
truth and in doing so did not necessarily call attention to the fact he
was defending himself. Stating the facts when presented with false
witness is not a sin. However, if after presenting them you continue
to argue with the person...well...
It's not a fun thing to do
when someone's bearing false witness against you to bless them.
Sometimes you'd rather dip yourself in hot sauce and roll around in a
huge pile of thumbtacks for an hour or so. At the end of the
day...when all the situations are done...ultimately it's just you and
God. You answer to Him. What kind of answer do you want to give Him
when he asks how you handled the situation?