Today I was called a witch! Someone I didn’t know posted a comment on my Facebook video that I had made encouraging people to sign up for a free study on Joy and Peace. When I saw it, I have to say my first reaction was to laugh! I have never been called a witch before and certainly not for talking about joy and peace!! My second reaction was to feel sad for the person who had posted it. He is obviously in a bad place and so I did three things. I blocked him from being able to contact me again, I deleted his comment and I prayed for him.
I’m sure most of us have noticed that recently there has been so many people posting horrible comments on social media platforms often about football players, royalty, actors or anyone who is a public figure. I have been shocked and disgusted at the recent racial comments on the England squad. To see those comments on social media is just unbelievable and yet this is the kind of world we live in. Over the last number of months/years, some people have been so vocal about others they have never met. People judge others and often believe what the newspapers write about them and add their hurtful comments that are so unkind. We have seen this happen recently to royalty and I have noticed that some of these comments even come from people who claim to be Christians. It reminded me of a time when the band I used to be in called Heartbeat was releasing singles into the charts. One particular newspaper interviewed my husband, Ray and printed what he was supposed to have said in this national newspaper. They said, Ray Gale (they even got his name wrong) says, “I hate the church!” Those of you who knew my husband when he was alive would know that Ray would never have said that statement. Ray loved the church, yet we received so many terrible letters from Christians who believed the newspaper report and rather than asking Ray if it was true, they wrote to condemn Ray with strong language. Can I remind you, not everything you read in a newspaper is true!
Let’s not condemn others and put in print on social media what we think of them when we don’t know what their story really is. My heart has been heavy particularly during the last few days/weeks/months from seeing all the negative comments that have been said about people we don’t know. These comments go deep into some people’s hearts and cause great pain – and sometimes as we have seen, those negative words can have dire consequences.
On the other hand, I have seen so many beautiful and encouraging comments on social media which should be encouraged. The Bible (Proverbs 18:21 – The Message) says this: Words kill, words give life; they are either poison or fruit – you choose! Let’s choose to build others up and not tear them down. Let’s choose to see people’s faces light up as we tell them how wonderful and special they are. We have the ability to tear down and destroy others with our words but we also have the ability to build up and encourage others with words of wisdom, love, blessing and respect. What are you going to do with your words? As I have already said – the Bible clearly says, Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit – you choose!
LOVE NANCY X
