He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been
sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy
the devil's work. 1 John 3:8, NIV
China’s house church leaders representing more than ten million members met
some years ago for a conference to discuss the main problems facing their
churches. They ranked their top three problems, and came up with strategies to
solve them. At the top of the list was gossip. Leader after leader told
stories of how their ministries had been compromised by this subtle sin. One
house church leader from Henan Province shared the following experience:
“I went into an area to lead Bible studies for coworkers and they wouldn’t
let me into the house where we were to hold the seminar. I asked them through
the closed door what the problem was, but they wouldn’t tell me. They just told
me to go away. It was winter and I went a little ways outside the town, knowing
I must start a fire to sleep beside or I would freeze to death. I wondered what
on earth could have made those brothers and sisters turn me away on such a cold
night without a word of explanation.
“But a brother took pity on me and brought me secretly to his home. I
eventually pried the truth out of him. The leaders in the area had received an
anonymous letter denouncing me as a ‘lover of many women.’ Try as hard as I
might, I could not get them to listen to me or let me see the letter. Later in
another part of the country, I learned the letter had been sent by a brother I
had disciplined for moral laxity, and he had sent it out of spite.
“I went to him and he repented. He sent another letter, but because the first
one was unsigned, they didn’t believe him. Both of us offered to go there, but
we weren’t welcomed. The testimony of the church was ruined. I still have to
explain myself wherever I go. It’s a victory for the devil.
“I went with the offending brother out to the countryside and told him to
pluck a chicken. We walked along while he did; the wind blew the feathers far
over the fields. When he was finished, he asked, ‘What now?’ I told him, ‘Pick
up every feather, and put it back on the chicken.’ He said, ‘That’s impossible.’
I replied, ‘You are right. It is impossible, just as the damage your words have
done cannot be repaired.’ ”
The house church leaders pledged to be more loving, and to hold more
face-to-face meetings with each other to minimize the sin of gossip in the
future.
RESPONSE: Today I will thwart Satan’s temptations to offend others by
committing the sin of gossip.
PRAYER: Lord, enable me to stand strong today in the face of all that
Satan tries to throw at me.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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