How should Christians respond to attacks and insults?
Has anyone ever said something unkind to you or about you? I think we all have had that experience. Becoming victims of slander or malicious gossip can be difficult to bear. However, God calls us to exhibit a very specific kind of response in such circumstances. Ever had these feelings ranging from despondency and anger, even though I knew I needed to respond with joy (Matt. 5:11–12). T he greatest book ever written about the virtue of love in the Christian life is Jonathan Edwards' classic Charity and Its Fruits . In this book, Edwards included a chapter on how we are to respond to false charges. There, he makes the biblical point that such attacks should not surprise us; rather, we should expect them and stay determined to keep the faith: Men that have their spirits heated and enraged and rising in bitter resentment when they are injured act as if they thought some strange thing had happened to them. Whereas they are very foolish in so thinking for it is no strange ...