Self-Justification

"You yourselves will not be the speakers; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you" (Matthew 10:20).

A pastor friend once told me, "True meekness is lack of self-justification." I had gone to him about a lady in the church who was grafting onto the grapevine all sorts of rotten rumors. We all wanted some holy revenge. His statement helped us realize that revenge is God's business, not ours. I also recalled something I had read years before: “Don’t complain and don’t explain.”

An elderly lady friend of mine who lived in a high-rise for senior citizens became the target of gossip and her very Christian reply was, "Well, if they aren't talking about me, they'll be talking about someone else." This is another noble thought when we suspect that we are being torn to shreds.

If we know that the Spirit of our Father speaks through us, we will be less inclined to mount a defense when we confront an offence. No less a person than Jesus is our example: "The high priest rose to his feet before the court and began to interrogate Jesus: `Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?' But Jesus remained silent; he made no reply" (Mark 14:60,61).

Jesus knew that time would prove His love and His innocence.