This morning I was reading in the book of Revelation. This is probably my least favourite place in the New Testament, one that I liken to taking my medicine – somewhere that, apart from the first three chapters, is not easy to understand; not very palatable. I am sure that many Christians give this a wide berth for that reason. On the other hand, there are those who believe that they understand it. I am certainly not one of these, however, I turn there often enough because I do believe that God can speak to me through this book – not with some clever interpretation, but with something that he wants to say to, or show, me.
Accusations
This morning’s reading was Chapter 12, and I was struck by verse 10:
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ’Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God’.”
This led me to think about the nature of Satan’s accusations, and about the subject of accusation more generally. We are all susceptible to accusations and to being accusational towards others. The context for this particular verse is a legal one, as if accusations are being brought against someone in a court of law, Satan standing before God and bringing his allegations. This may bring to your mind the passage at the beginning of the Book of Job, where Satan accuses Job of shallowness, suggesting that he only worshipped God because of the favour he had shown to him.
Complicit?
If Satan is the accuser of the ‘brethren’, those who seek to honour God in and with their lives, where does that place us when we have an accusational attitude towards others? Are we complying with Satan’s agenda, walking in his footsteps? It isn’t hard to find fault with others; we are ALL flawed human beings. Sometimes we seek to divert attention from our own failings by focusing on those of others. Jesus spoke of this in terms of the speck in someone’s eye and the beam/log in the eye of their accuser (Luke 6:41,42). We may simply be irritated when other people see things from an alternative perspective to us, if they seem to have other priorities or different values. Perhaps such things will inevitably create tensions, misunderstandings, and rifts. Others might have a critical spirit, being ready to find fault, believing that by bringing others down, they boost their own status and position.
Strategy
Satan is in the business of causing rifts and, if he can do so amongst the people of God, then that brings him great satisfaction. Ultimately, his accusation is against God – he seeks to demonstrate that God’s ‘mankind’ project was a great mistake, pure folly. He seeks to do that on the macro scale, but also at the level of the individual Christian. Our enemy wants us to seem to fail. His strategy is to undermine us, bringing any accusation against us that he can conjure up, whether these have merit or not, and he uses other people to deliver his poison.
Motivation
When we accuse others, or are accused by them, there may indeed be fault; the complaint may be genuine. But from the point of view of accusation, the motivation is, perhaps, more important. If we point out a mistake on the part of another person, with the motivation of wanting to help them avoid whatever the consequences might be, then our motivation is care and concern for that person, rather than rivalry or domination – we are going out of our way with the intention of helping them. Such actions may entail a form of criticism, but one that is both genuine and made with genuine motivation.
Mitigation
One of the difficulties with judging others is that we usually don’t know the reason for their behaviour. Yes, their actions may seem wrong, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their reasoning is also wrong, or that there are no genuine and reasonable mitigating factors. I often find myself irritated by other road users …. do you? Driving faults are a little different to other sorts of flawed behaviour, because here in the UK there are clear, documented rules for how we conduct ourselves behind the wheel. When others fail to follow these, then there should be no basis for argument concerning such deviant behaviour. That said, my wife, Jean, usually manages to find some potential excuse, and will outline this when I express irritation …. perhaps they are a new, inexperienced driver; maybe they aren’t familiar with the road layout; perhaps they are looking for a turning or house number; maybe they had an argument with their other half; perhaps the child on the back seat distracted them, etc. Yes, there may be all sorts of understandable reasons for others’ behaviour. Thankfully, God knows these when Satan brings accusations before him, against us. He knows when our actions are intentional, deliberate, and when they are not. He sees our hearts (Proverbs 21:2). Maybe, when we feel inclined to criticise the behaviour of others, we need first to seek wisdom and understanding from him before we launch into doing so.
Reasonable?
There is one last consideration in regard to criticism that I want to highlight. Most of us don’t respond positively when we receive allegations against ourselves, nor those directed at others whom we care about. Such a reaction may seem reasonable, but in a similar way to how God looks at our motivations, we need to consider those of our accusers before we respond to them. Even if their motivation is not as it should be, that is no justification for us to respond in a harmful way. Rather, we should help them to realise why it is that they feel as they do, and to appreciate the effect of their behaviour on those they criticise.
Gentleness
Let’s conclude with a passage from the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians – verses 1-8. Here, Paul speaks about suffering mistreatment for the gospel, and then, in verses 7 & 8, we read these words:
“But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”
In our relationships with other Christians, this surely should inform our attitude and responses.
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