Have you ever been slandered? Have you ever been the subject of hatred, of bitterness, of criticism, of gossip? Has your good been attributed to evil motives? Have you had people wish you were dead so they could take your position?

We are called to know the power of Christ's resurrection and to share His sufferings. Slander and criticism are an important part of Christ's sufferings. You have to be a mature Christian before you can successfully handle this kind of test.

King David experienced hatred and envy from his son, Absalom; Moses and Aaron from Korah; Jesus from the chief priests and elders.

God knows we do enough things wrong! It is not surprising people regard us with raised eyebrows. In this case we are getting what we deserve and should pray and ask God to help us give a better testimony.

But when we are following the Lord closely and still are confronted with bitterness and accusations, that is a more difficult challenge.

Our adamic nature wants to fight back. We occupy our thoughts with the perversity and meanness of those who slander us.

When I was in public-school work as an administrator there was some opposition. When I would come home and start talking about this one and that one my wife would say, "Bob, they're getting to you." We knew the Lord well enough to know God does not want us focusing on people who in our eyes are evil.

This was good preparation for the ministry.

Pastors and their wives are often accused unjustly. They are a target for Satan's venom—Satan, the accuser of the brothers.

Immature congregations are an easy mark for the accuser. He soon finds a way to get them to take sides, to slander, to gossip. The Apostle Paul mentions this tendency and refers to it as immaturity and also as the works of the flesh.

Bitterness and division can be found in numerous Christian congregations. Yet we are called to love one another. It would be a lot easier without Satan trying to cause suspicion and hatred all the time.

What are you to do when the honeymoon is over and people discover you didn't come down from Heaven? You do what the Bible says. You commit your way to the Lord. You let Him justify you. This is what Jesus did!

The more you try to justify yourself the more people will be sure that "where there's smoke there's fire."

And you must never let it "get to you" so all you are thinking about is those who are criticizing you.

My wife and I really work at this. We covenant between us not to mention the names of our critics except in prayer. Otherwise Satan has a field day by keeping us in a stew of bitterness and hatred.

If we will look to the Lord He will fence our mind against the evil. He helps us get our thoughts up into the heavens with Him. Soon we find the negative is gone out of our mind and we are rejoicing in the Lord.

God has not called us to fight people but to feed the Lord's sheep. We can feed the sheep only as we ourselves are spiritually and emotionally healthy.