But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
There is a lot of suffering in this world, and a lot of reasons for it.
Some suffer because of the part of the world they happen to be born in.
There are certain places, in Alaska, for instance, where the climate is harsh, the people are few and the living conditions are very challenging. Social pressure might be as responsible for keeping a person in that environment as say, lack of understanding the options.
Some people suffer genetic or other inherited defects.
It’s no fault of theirs that their bodies have, for all practical purposes, turned against them. They are destined to live in a body racked with pain. But the alternative is one they fight for all they are worth.
Some people suffer due to poor life choices.
Our text lists among them, murder, theft and other types of similar evildoing.
Some of us suffer for our faith
This is an honorable thing, but no less painful. This chapter, for the most part, is given, not so much to explain why a Christian suffers for his faith, but to encourage him in it.
One thing none of us ought to suffer for
Is as a busybody in other men’s matters. John Gill says, “or as a bishop in another man’s diocese.” (Gill was neither a bishop nor a part of a diocese – this is sarcastic.) It simply means someone who “concerns himself in things he has nothing to do with.” It’s the armchair quarterback, the backseat driver, the nosey neighbor. (Anyone remember “Gladys Kravitz?”) Gill says it is akin to the tenth commandment,
Exodus 20:17 (KJV)
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
The irony is that it is listed among some of the most heinous of crimes; murder, theft, to two which would not be disputed as chief among crimes, but it is almost commonplace among Christians to overlook perhaps even lightly jest about the sin of being a busybody.
Perhaps it is the beam in our eye that disqualifies us from aiding our brother with the mote in his.
Matthew 7:3-4 (KJV)
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
#UnderstandingSuffering #OvercomingSuffering #ChristianFaith #AvoidingGossip #anthropology #hamartiology
Motes and Beams: The Sin of Busybodies
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