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I am struck by how much damage an accusation can do. You see it doesn't just hurt the accused... but also the accuser. Let's say I invited you to dinner, and yet promptly forgot that I had. Then when invited, I went out with someone else instead. What will you assume when you find out later? If you assume that I don't love you as much as the other.... or that I ditched you on purpose, your heart is now deeply wounded and broken and my heart is broken too... that you could imagine me being so ugly. And so there is a wedge between us and there will be a wedge between us until the accusation is put down.

Some accusations seem more subtle, like the ones spoken to us as children, "You can't do anything right"... "Your just crying to get attention" ... "Your Fat" ... "No one could ever love you". But oh the damage done, the broken hearts and broken lives that have at their core the crushing blow of accusation. Psalms 69:20 says, "Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none." Many a life too is consumed by trying to prove that these accusations aren't true, or by living the life that an accusation implies you deserve or even by trying to have relationship when a wedge of accusation remains in place. All this is SO different than the LIFE that God intends for you.

Look again at the passage in Job from God's perspective. God says about Job "there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil". The Good news is GOOD NEWS! Romans 8:1 says "there is therefore NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” John 4:8b says, "God is Love" I Corinthians 4:7 says "Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person" (AMP) God is EVER ready to believe the best about YOU! You can rest in that and accusations have no more power if we do. Look at James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." Look at the lack of accusation in the heart of God. As we mirror Christ in who we are and what we do... we will have this heart towards others, as well as towards ourselves.

If you are wounded by the labels... accusations of another. Look at God's face reflected in the words of scripture... God sees your potential and is proud of your successes. He dwells, as it says in Philippians 4:8, on what is noble in you. He never defines you by what you do... but by who He created you to be and by your heart's desires.

Sometimes when Satan accuses he hits the mark. Sometimes what he says is true. But even then... that is why Jesus died... to stand in the gap for you and take the price, the shame, and accusation on Himself. Let Him take it... and set you free!

On the flip side... if you are wounded because you have spoken and believe in a wicked motive of another... put it down. You are a child of God... reflect Him in your relationships. "Be strong in the GRACE that is in Christ Jesus" (II Timothy 1:2b). Oswald Chambers writes: "If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each of us," Jesus said, "But go and learn what this means; I desire mercy and not sacrifice." (Matt 9:13a)