Facing Accusations

Friday, December 4, 2009

And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those that love God, to those that are called according to His purpose. ( Romans 8:28-29 NASB)

In any kind endeavor towards communicating with any person, even with those you love, there is always the possibility of accusation. When it comes to accusation, whether that accusation is true or false, very few of us have every become immune to the pain of accusation. Very few Christians can truthful proclaim, that they have gain the ability through their Christian walk, to turn the other cheek. In fact, most Christians are more than willing to lay down their lives for the Lord, but few are willing to stop letting their feelings get hurt by accusation.

The simple truth, not one single person can with all honest say that they have never criticized another person, including myself,. The fact is, we all tend to give in to our dark side once in a while. After all, satin is called by many names, but his most effective guise has been that of the “accuser of the brethren”. Accusation has been his most effective weapon for destroying the light and witness of the Body of Christ, and for destroying relationships. Our ability to accomplish our purpose as Children of God, , will be determines by the degree in which we can deal affective with are tendency towards accusation.

Facing accusation Every human being has to deal with accusation of some sort. By the most part we tend to ignore a great deal of criticism that comes are way. But when we are ill or in pain, even the most minor accusation can cause us a great deal of unwanted pain. Especially, when we find ourselves being accused by those that we are depending on to give us the support and compassion that we need, in order deal with our illness and pain constructively.

The most important people in our life, when we are in pain and sick are those in the medical profession, in the church, and in our family. Criticism from any of these sources can leave us feeling devastated, and feeling forced to battle our illness and pain alone.

While dealing with my own health issues, I have been accused of being called a “Hypochondriac” (among other things), from by those with in the medical profession. I have come to realize, that ignorance often breeds accusation. The simple fact is, if you are a women you are more likely to be accused of having psychosomatic illness and pain. Or at the least, your illness or pain will be blamed on your hormones. Especially, if those in the medical profession can’t find a logical reason for your illness and pain.

Evidently, those with in the medical profession that are so willing to lay the blame for our illness and pain on the fact that we are females, have not read the resent national statistic which states; “ 40% of the physical pain people experience can not even be diagnosed“.

Dealing with a physicians accusation, can be hard to deal with, since we tend to depend on them to have that answers for our pain and illness. We depend upon them to know which prescribe medication will help us feel not only better. We depend on them to help us get our life back on track. When are expectations are not met, and we find ourselves facing unwarranted and unnecessary accusation, then we become hurt and lost.

On the other hand, we also depend on our family to give us the support and comfort that we need. The last thing that we need when you are struggling with our illness, is to find ourselves being accused on being lazy, unmotivated, or simple faking our illness to get attention they feel we so desperately need. This can leave us feeling unloved.

We also tend to depend on the church for understanding and support. And yet, I have found that this can also be another area of were accusation thrives. It is not uncommon for a person suffering from a chronic illness, to find themselves being accused of being punished by God with illness because of unconfused sin in their lives, or lack of faith in God to heal them. These kind of accusations can leave us questioning our salvation and relationship with God. These kinds of accusation can force us to leave the church, or send us running behind a wall of silence.

Why do people criticize us? I have heard many excuses for accusing another person, and have made up a few myself. Some accusations may seem noble and justified, such as protecting the sheep from wolves in sheep’s clothing, or protecting the truth, usually the truth as we see it. But rarely is there an accusation with in the church or with in the home, that is not rooted in territorial issues, or self-preservation.

Criticism of any kind is the ultimate manifestation of pride. Because when we accuse another, we are actually saying that we are superior to them. That we have more knowledge and wisdom, and that they should bow to what we know to be the truth. A person in the medical profession that criticize without thought, is prideful of their medical education. They refuse to accept their human limitation, or lack of knowledge. They refuse to accept the fact that there is still a lot that is not known about the human body.

A family member that criticizes, doesn’t usually accused because of any real animosity . They criticize because they have pride in their own opinion and beliefs. They are flowing in pride even when they are being verbally abusive. A Christian who criticizes others does it out of pride in their beliefs. They have come to believe that they are right in their beliefs and everyone is wrong. Pride brings that which any rational Christian should try to avoid, because of Gods resistance. For God resist the proud, but give grace to the humble. ( James 4:6) More to the point, A wholesome tongue is a tree of life…( Proverbs 15:4a)

A Christian should always strive to bring life. To be a person that encourages other people rather than tare them down, even if they are walking in sin. For no Christian should ever want to be a stumbling block. He said but whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believeth in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. ( Matthew 18:6) But very few Christians try to make any endeavor to control their way wards tongue

Healing power of facing accusations

Facing accusation from any source can be very devastating, but it can also be healing if we look at criticism and consider the source. It rarely does any good to argue with someone that is accusing you, doing so will lead to a lot of unnecessary pain and misunderstandings. It there for become vital to our sense of well being to face accusation with a maturity.

Facing criticism from the church can help you grow in decrement, you will learn who you can trust with the information about your illness and who you can‘t. With proper discernment, you will learn what is right and healthy teachings with in the church, and to put aside those teachings will cause you a lot of unnecessary pain and hardship, and which teaching lead us in to a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord.

Facing criticism from a physician can teach you, that putting people on pedestal is not a health habit that should be encouraged. Doctors are human and can make mistakes, and medical science is not infallible. So if you find yourself being accused by a doctor, there is always another on just around the corner.

Facing family accusations can and will teach us, if we let it, to be open and honest about our pain, fears, and doubts with those we love. It can also open a new dimension in our relationship with our family members, if we learn to have a little more patents with their ignorance about our illness.

But the only true way that we can truly deal with constructively with accusations, is through the forgiveness.