The other day I spoke against someone. I didn’t like what they did, I was frustrated by it, and I told someone else.
A few months ago I spoke against another person. I was appalled at the things they were doing, and I mentioned it to someone else. It wasn’t hidden stuff they are doing, but open, public, and against everything they once stood for in this world.
But I spoke unfavorable things to another person. You’ve done it many times too. And the problem?
It changes your relationship with them even when they never know. Because at the end of the day, you know.
It has troubled me a lot and I get aggravated with myself when I do these things. These are the things “I don’t want to do and end up doing anyway” (Rom 7) kind of thing.
Whenever I do these things, Ps 15 comes and smacks me in the head. It is a psalm highlighting what righteousness looks like (Ps 15:2-3):
The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
The righteous person casts no slur on others. And that is a hard truth to follow. Because oftentimes you need to just talk to someone to vent your frustration and vent your angst in the world, and then it lifts. So where is there a line between venting and being real and slandering and speaking slurs against another? I think a lot of it has to do with the heart, who you talk to, and why you are talking to them.
