FEATHERS
Gary Waddell • Victory Ministries Middle Tennessee • 10/04/21
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge” (James 4:11).
A (self-proclaimed) Christian man named Clarence, had his feelings hurt inadvertently by another brother in Christ in the town where they lived. The other brother's name was Jeff. Over a period of 2 years Clarence gossiped viciously about Jeff and joined in with several other "town gossipers". Clarence was “speaking evil” of Jeff almost on a daily basis. He reached a point where he hated Jeff, and Jeff didn't have a clue why; but he was feeling the brunt of all of the gossip and whispering. It cost Jeff a promotion, strife in his marriage, problems at his church and with his children. He didn’t know why these wicked things had come upon him. The only thing he could do was to pray about it continually, which he did. (1 Thess 5:17)
One day Clarence was involved in an auto accident which put him in the hospital. He was seriously injured. For a while doctors weren’t sure that Clarence would pull through. Clarence realized that life on earth may be drawing near. After his surgeries, a visitor came with his Bible in hand. He quoted the verse Mark 11:26. “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses”. These words that Jesus spoke hit home. That night in his hospital bed, Clarence begged God for forgiveness and called upon the name of the Lord once again (Rom 10:9-13) as he had been examining his life (2 Cor 13:5) and found it NOT to be pleasing to God. Gossip (whisperers) Destroys (Rom 1:29).
Miraculously Clarence recovered. He had been 'born again' (John 3:5,7) when all of the time he had been living as a “say so” believer. He vowed to live a “real believer’s life from then on” and asked God to help him. Clarence went to see Jeff and begged forgiveness for his gossip and hatred. Surprisingly to him, Jeff forgave him completely but said this. "Clarence, I need you to go buy a ‘king size’ feather pillow and a pillowcase. Take it out to a particular field just outside of town, cut it open, and scatter the feathers as you walk in the open field."
Even though it was a cold and windy day, Clarence did what Jeff asked him to do (of course the feathers went everywhere). A few days later, and curious for the reason of this strange task, he came back and told Jeff that he had completed the task. Jeff then replied, "now go pick up every feather and bring them back to me in the pillowcase".
I heard a version of a somewhat similar story once, and it convicted me. These two verses came to mind at that time. My own tongue has been an occasional enemy of mine. "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8).
And the other verse was this one: "To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another" (Titus 3:2-3).
I am so glad that Jesus forgave me. I still know that all the gossip and evil things I have spoken in my life before I received Jesus (John 1:12) are "out there," and I can't get them back.
Yes, I do know I am forgiven; and “no”, I do not live in the past. However,
I still look for feathers occasionally.
A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer (gossip) separateth chief friends (Pro 16:28).
Thanks for “Taking 5" • Gary Waddell • Victory Ministries Middle Tennessee
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