Character Assassination is Cheap

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." – Galatians 6:1Character assassination is cheap. It’s like a drive-by-shooting when bullets are sprayed at random in the dark. Words can be almost as devastating as bullets from a handgun.

There was a pastor who was doing his best to preach the Word. However, someone in the congregation didn’t like the pastor, so he would send anonymous notes to the pastor through the offering plate. The rhetoric grew more intense and the pastor grew more frustrated. Finally, the pastor received one which had a single word scrawled on it in large letters filling the entire page. It read, "STUPID!"

That was it. The pastor had to do something. The next week, the pastor announced, "Recently, I have received several letters from people who didn’t sign their name, but this past week, I received a letter from a person who signed his or her name, and forgot to write the letter." He then held up the page with the word STUPID written on it and everyone had a good laugh.

Never give any credence to charges whose bases are so weak that the instigator refuses to put his name to them. Historians tell us that John Hancock, one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence, signed his name in very large letters, and when he was asked why he wrote so large, he replied that he wanted it large enough so that even with failing eyesight the king could see his name.

I have news for you, friend. The King of Kings has no trouble with His eyesight, and He beholds everything you write–whether you put your name on it or not. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account," says Hebrews 4:13 in the New Testament.

How should matters be handled when you sense that someone is doing wrong? Write anonymous letters? Casually mention what you think in conversation?

The Bible gives us a framework for dealing with such matters, and you find it in the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:15. Here Jesus says when you sense wrongdoing, you are to confront the larger group–the church, the board, the governing body.

Long ago, Solomon said, "Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you" (Proverbs 9:8). But never are you given license to assassinate a person’s character through inferences, gossip and innuendo.

Resource Reading: Proverbs 6