People who do things in life get talked about. Sometimes even lied about.
And right now, that person is me.
Funny, I’m not mad. Not in the least. I actually feel sad. Sad for the following reasons, and if you find yourself the target of gossip, I hope you’ll take these things to heart:
1. There is a reason people feel the need to spread lies about others. And the reason probably has nothing at all to do with you. Insecurity, fear, jealousy and the feeling of being out of control are often what cause people to make up things that make others look bad and them look good. And for that, you should feel sad. Not mad.
2. If you are not in the wrong, if your conscience is clear, the truth will come to light. You don’t have to do or say a thing. And that too, should be cause for sadness. Sadness at what that person will likely suffer when the truth is known.
Why will the truth come to light? Because people know you. They know your character. And people of like character know what to believe and what to ignore. (You can tell a lot about someone by whom he or she chooses to believe.)
3. And that’s the third reason you can be sad, not mad: the person telling lies is not of the same character as you. A slanderer’s life is not an easy life; lying lips and a loose tongue make for sleepless nights, stressful days and sick bodies.
But there’s a fourth reason I’m sad today. And that is this:
For a moment, I wanted the world to know the truth.
There is no test of character quite like knowing things about a person. There is no temptation like the temptation to expose wrongdoing when it’s not your place to expose it.
I contemplated how I’d do it. A cryptic verse of scripture, subtle enough to alert the nervous system. Or loud enough to make the whole thing explode into oblivion.
I could do it. Oh, I wanted to do it. And that makes me more than sad. It makes want to run to the One who sees through me and beg Him to not let me stay this way.
Thankfully, He loves me enough that He won’t.