Show me what is bad and I will then be able to show you what is good.
Love can never be observed when things go well or when you receive praise. Real love, like the kind that God shows us, is best demonstrated when things go south. Mr. Hyde shows his face when there is a delay or a problem of some kind.
When he lived the Apostle Paul was the most criticized man on the earth.
Was he condemned for all the men and women he tortured and killed before he became a believer? No.
Was he judged for being a legalistic before finding Christ? No.
Was Paul belittled for being born short? Nope.
The man responsible for seeing more lives changed for better during his lifetime had personal enemies just like Hitler, Stalin and Mao. His main fault was “turning the world”. Paul upset apple carts.
But certainly Paul must have done something wrong, something somewhere at some time, right?
Paul’s accusers never got any accusation to stick – not anything before any of the pagan courts.
So how can you know if someone is bad or good? Is it by listening to what others say about them?
Here is what Proverbs 17:4 says about this matter:
An evildoer listens to wicked lips, a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue or as the NLT says, Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.
We may not be able to decide who speaks to us or determine what they will say, but we are 100% in control of what we look at and what we listen to.
An evildoer listens to wicked lips!
Because of slander, at the end of his life the apostle Paul said: “…everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me…”.