WHOA.

Okay. Where to start...?

I've been wanting to approach this blog entry for about a week now, but I know I need to deal so gently with it. Last week I read the following passage during my morning quiet time:

You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Matthew 12:34-37

I wasn't looking for this passage. I was working my way through Matthew. But the Holy Spirit leads us to the passages we need, when we need them. So here's the thing I've been struggling with: Someone I know recently told a lie about me. Actually, bald-faced lies (and I'm such a dork, that I actually researched whether it is "bald-faced" or "bold-faced" :) ). In other words, I could give actual evidence that these are lies. And accounts from several people that these are lies.

And I will be honest. It EATS ME UP.

I've tried to let it go. I've told myself that Christ Himself suffered false accusations, so I am not immune.

And then BAM: I read this passage in Matthew.

On the one hand, it is so vindicating. Other than in arguments with my husband or my mother, I don't think I've ever said something malicious to (or about) someone. I was always the girl in high school that was made fun of- not the girl who did the making of fun. I don't like gossip. It doesn't make me feel good. It makes me feel yucky.

And this passage is a clear manifestation of the antithesis, i.e. the fact that God is not neutral. That nothing in life is neutral. Either you are with Him, or against Him. Either you are the good man with the good treasure, or the bad man with the bad treasure.

And those lies? Well, this person (and persons... those that have repeated the lies and should know better) will have to give an account one day. That should make me feel good, right?

But on the other hand... The passage also says we will have to give an account for the CARELESS words we have spoken. Now I might not be malicious or gossipy by nature, but I might be something worse: an attorney. Just kidding. Being an attorney has nothing to do with it- but I thought I might as well throw an attorney joke in there....

ANYWAY, I may not slander people, but how often do I speak carelessly? How often do I say something that I don't realize is harmful to another person, or harmful to God's kingdom?

And hence the title: WHOA. My words have consequences. ETERNAL consequences.

And it all plays into something else I've been thinking about a lot lately: apostasy. I've read a lot of John MacArthur and John Piper and random other people lately. And a lot of what they say makes so much sense, especially as we live in a world full of so many people following false prophets (*ahem, Obama = messiah*). I grew up in a "once saved, always saved" church. But as I watch so many friends fall into false prophet traps (like the emergent church*), I've had to pause and step back and think about that. How can someone who professes to be a Christian, and even professes all of the right "creeds," accept things that are culturally-acceptable but contrary to Scripture? But then again, how can a person who professes the right creeds truly believe them if they water down the Truth, or if they speak or promote that which is evil? How can so many Christians appear to be on the wide road to hell?

MacArthur's answer: They weren't really Christians to begin with. They are apostates. They profess to know Christ but never accepted His full truth. That's the most dangerous kind of non-Christian; just as the best lie is the one closest to the truth, the most dangerous non-Christian is the one who looks the most like a Christian.

And whether I like it or not.... I think that means I am back to my Baptist roots! :)

So where does that leave "Christians" that lie about other Christians? I don't know. Sometimes we just make mistakes. And God's grace covers that. But then again, we go back to the passage above- out of our mouths comes what is really in our hearts, what is in our very souls....

And that leaves me really glad that God will be the one dealing with that dilemma "in the day of judgment." My prayer lately has been that God just helps me be loving and kind!

[*On the emergent church-- if you only accept Christ's teachings on love and acceptance and paint this lovey-dovey picture of Jesus, but don't accept the accountability and discipline and inherent truth that comes along with Christ, then you aren't accepting the WHOLE of Jesus. And therefore you aren't accepting Jesus at all. So, while the Pharisees didn't accept the whole of Jesus by only seeing the judgment side of God, the emergent church isn't accepting the whole of Jesus by only seeing the grace side of God.]

Okay. End of sermon.