Lift up or put down?
A mini-sermon by C. Emerson Strain
We are in a world where "put downs, abound". Watch a sitcom on TV and see how people constantly "put down" others. Reality programs abound where people are "put down". On the job, you can see people "put down" others. In school, you can be a part of a crowd if you will "put down" someone else. Even in church, you can join the "put down" crowd.
Don't be a part of the "put down" crowd.
There are people feel that they will look better if they "put down others". Don't be a part of that crowd. If they will talk bad about others to you, they will talk bad about you to others.
What do you do when people "put you down"?
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Luke 6:22
Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Luke 6:23
More important is how you treat and talk about others.
The psalmist David, feared God. He sought Saul and found him sleeping in a cave. Saul had hated David, sought David's life and now David restrained himself from killing Saul. Instead, he cut off part of Saul's skirt to show to Saul that he could have killed him.
And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. 1 Sam 24:5
And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. 1 Sam 24:6
How much better a person David was, because he honored the anointing of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Prov 9:10
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Phil 2:3