Okay, so over the last twenty years I've listened to GenX and the millennial generation tell me how much they hate being labeled. Yet, now what I am observing is the trend that people in both age groups spend time policing each other's words, activities, and actions. Then they label you and have no trouble telling you what they think is wrong with you, your relationships, or how they think you're failing in your world. I love the infamous statement "I hear what you say but I don't like how you said it." Or, "I don't think it's right how you treated that person..." "You're not a very good friend." "You're a Brut... you're a loser." I think what's worse is the people who make the most rudest comments but do it politely, talk behind each other's back and then think it's okay because of how politely they said it. Then if you turn the table on those who do this to others they get angry at you and challenge you for the things they do, It's amazing how many people spend their time trying to trap others and frame them. They even set you up to be framed and held captive to their views of you. No one likes it but yet it's become a popular sport these days. It's mystifying to me as to who gave authorization for anyone to police any of us. I like Pastor Bobby Schuller's new confession of faith on Hour Of Power.
"I'm not what I do. I'm not what I have. I'm not what people say about me.
I am the beloved of God. It's who I am. No one can take it from me.
I don't have to worry. I don't have to hurry.
I can trust my friend Jesus and share his love with the world."
How we see God, How we see ourselves, affects How we see others and How we order our lives. We determine who's in, who's out and exclude those who don't measure up to those unexpressed expectations in our relationships that they didn't even know about. I've heard too many say "screw them." I'm moving on... without resolving or working through the relationship- writing them off. Have you ever been framed? Have you ever been bullied? How does it feel when you've been lied to? Betrayed? Or misled? Who taught this generation to act like this?
Here's what the Bible says straight up! Slandering, labeling, and framing others is a reflection of your lack of relationship with God! It also says a lot about who you are.
Leviticus 19:16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
Proverbs 11:13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
Proverbs 20:19 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.
Proverbs 26:20-22 For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
Jeremiah 6:28 They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly.
Jeremiah 9:4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, or every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
Now, it's important that you understand that I am not giving these scripture so that you can point out the "failures" of others. Our job is to police ourselves. That's it. The only thing in my mind I should be asking myself is "How am I treating the "others" in my life?" How am I treating myself? How does God view me? We are not called to police anyone else but ourselves. Have a look at these verses:
Psalms 41:7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
Proverbs 25:23 The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
Romans 1:28-32 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
There is nothing new about all this. The evidence is found in the bible itself. People are the same as they were thousands of years ago. The evidence of a God pleasing life is how you work through the problems within yourself and learn to define yourself and take time nurturing your own relationship with God. Then instead of being so fixated on how everyone else around you sucks and doesn't measure up to your expectations you might begin to see your world a bit differently. God is the one who framed you, defines you, and works in you to gives you the ability to see yourself. If God framed your world then how does what does he see that you don't?
Hebrews 11:3 says "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God."
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