Say What?
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16 NIV)
“Do not go about spreading slander among your people.” (Leviticus 19:16 NIV)
“But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” (Mathew 12:36 NIV)
Tears stream down your face onto your pillow as you lay in bed. “How could they do this?” you think. Pulling out your phone and reading the text again, it hits you: the people you trust most told lies about you behind your back.
This recently happened to me with a close friend in my youth group. We were on a mission trip, but I got sick and had to leave early. When the rest of the group got home, friends of mine were mad at me because of things my friend told them about me. All of the things she said were nowhere close to the truth. My friends wouldn’t hang out with me because of lies that were told.
The Bible specifically says, multiple times, not to lie about your neighbors. If God thought it was important enough to say over and over again, we should listen. Each and every one of us is a loved child of God. Would you want someone going around telling lies about your child and hurting them? Well, God doesn’t either. In fact, Mathew 12:36 says, “But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.”
Gossip and lies hurt everyone involved, including God. One day we are going to stand before God for judgment. With that in mind, my challenge to you is to not slander one another,, but to love each other as Christ loves.
HALEY FAYE SNYDER
I’m Haley Faye Snyder. I’m 14 years old and a freshman in high school. I’ve lived in the same Christian home in Kentucky since I was born. I have one little brother and two loving parents. I go to Westport Baptist church and have my whole life. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was six and then re-committed my life to Him when… (read more…)
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Not a “Daddy’s Girl”
“He doesn’t care about me at all!”
That’s what I said to my best friend on the phone one tear filled night. I struggle with depression, and that struggle had become more and more apparent lately. My mother was starting to get worried, so my friend and I talked for a long time trying to figure out what was causing this recent outbreak. My friend mentioned how my dad and I had been fighting a lot lately, and as soon as she said it I realized she hit the bulls-eye.
I’m not a fighting person, so when I fight a lot I can’t handle it and it affects me very negatively. My dad and I had always bumped heads, but it had been notably worse in the past few weeks. My friend told me that I needed to go talk to my mom about it. It took a lot of convincing, but I finally agreed and sought my mother out. We had a long conversation of mainly me expressing my feeling to her. When I was done she told me to write a note to my dad telling him everything I told her. I wrote the note that night and gave it to my mom to give to my dad. When I woke up the next morning I realized that my dad was going to have to take me to school.
Well, I guess we’re going to have to talk sometime.
The whole ride to school my dad and I talked about what had happened. I realized I had been wrong not telling him how I felt before, and he realized that he needs to show me he loves me more. He is now putting out an effort to spend time with me.
I know all of you out there have fights with your parents. I challenge you to talk to them about it and work together to find a fix to the problem.
HALEY FAYE SNYDER
I’m Haley Faye Snyder. I’m 13 years old and in eighth grade. I’ve lived in the same Christian home in Kentucky since I was born. I have one little brother and two loving parents. I go to Westport Baptist church and have my whole life. (read more…)
Cursed
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.’” (Jeremiah 17:5 NIV)
Leaving. That’s what my youth pastor told us he was doing. He felt a call to be a pastor and then one day, a church contacted him. Everything worked out so perfectly, you could see God working. Let me rephrase: Everything worked out perfectly for him. But my youth group and I felt abandoned by a spiritual leader we relied on.
When my youth pastor left, we were hurt. My mom reminded me of the verse Jeremiah 17:5. I realized my youth group and I needed to focus our hearts on God. We were still sad because we didn’t have him as a major figure in our lives. Even though he lives far away, we realized it was God’s plan. Being mad at our youth pastor for leaving would be being mad at him for listening to God.
You can apply this verse to your life by remembering that man will fail you because every man is a sinner, but God will never fail you. For example: If you have a health problem, don’t just count on the doctors to cure you, pray to God and know that in doing so His plan will be done. This is hard, but it turns out better in the end.
I challenge you, today, to focus your heart on God by asking His help and guidance in everything you do.
Haley
HALEY FAYE SNYDER
I’m Haley Faye Snyder. I’ve lived in the same Christian home in Kentucky since I was born. I have one little brother and two loving parents. I go to Westport Baptist church and have my whole life. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was six and then re-committed my life to Him when I was 11 at Boones Creek Baptist Camp. (read more…)
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