Tearing Down

In so many circles it is so easy to enter into gossip and tear another person down. Focusing on there bad habits or issues they are struggling with . No one has been immune from it. The work place has to be one of the worse. Back stabbing and tearing down another usually goes hand and hand with inflating our own ego. In reality it is violence to the soul.I'm just as guilty to my shame of doing the same thing .

Who cannot remember learning about someone tearing you down behind your back and how deep it hurt. Then of course you have those who use innuendo in front of you to tear you down and the more bold , will do it to your face. They say it takes numerous positive comments to undo a negative. I can still recall vividly a teacher calling me out in front of my class . Granted looking back I needed a kick in the pants but humiliating me in front of my friends deeply hurt .

Sadder still is that this type of thing happens within the body of Christ. Gossip can become a nasty and toxic element . It robs the Church of witness, it creates mistrust and destroys like a unseen snake in the grass. Then you have those Christians who will come to you and say before they begin to tear you down , I'm only speaking the truth in love and the begin to criticize any numerous behaviors. Now I believe in Church discipline and we do need honest brothers and sisters in Christ to confront us in mercy but most of the time it really has nothing to do with that.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
In this statement the Apostle Paul tells the saints at in Thessalonia to encourage one another , to build each other up in the faith .  Christians should be marked separate from the world . If we have a real love for Christ and others , the use of the tongue to gossip , tear down have no place. Even if one needs to talk to another about a real sin issue , it should be done with discretion and grace. Following the biblical mandate , seeking repentance and reconciliation first.

Tearing others down or even taking some type of glee even when another falls has no place in the heart of a believer.  Jesus said that one way the world would know us is the way we love one another(John 13:35 ) .  The world has enough gossip and joy when one falls , let us not be marked by it nor take part in it .