As long as we accept evil reports as standard mechanisms in our dealings with each other, they rule us instead, with a merciless, self-reinforcing logic. They are easy and cheap to manufacture, on slim pretexts or none at all. Evil reports don't play fair. We can't fight them on their terms.
But do we have to? Answering that question is where the simple lesson comes in. As with other simple lessons, we are likely to miss it as long as we are focused on the bad things. Whatever we resent, whatever frightens us, whatever makes us feel bludgeoned, attacked, or powerless—focusing on those things causes us to miss simple principles and simple lessons. The simple principle in this case is that evil reports about others rule us only as long as we give them control of our minds. It's our choice. And the simple lesson is that we don't have to wonder what should rule our minds instead. God tells us.
This is what He says in Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
God tells us exactly what to think about, and He doesn't tell us to think about the evil that other people are alleged to have been up to—any more than He has told us to think obsessively about what storms can do to us, or whether the social position of women was fair or not in the past.
Of course, our human nature is very insistent that it is important—vital, indispensable, essential to our concept of intelligence and self-mastery—to focus on these things. We have tremendous difficulty letting them go, and all kinds of reasons why we're right to let them dictate the condition of our minds.
Isn't it the job of a voting citizen, after all, to pass judgment on candidates for political office? Yes, it is, but why do we think we can't do it unless we admit into our minds an endless stream of allegations and insinuations about other people, and then expend our God-given abilities mulling them over? Does any good come from spending time thinking about evil? God makes clear what evil is, but He doesn't tell us to give our minds over to thinking about it.
What He does tell us to think about may seem too simple to our proud hearts, as if there has to be more to it. But doing things our way isn't working for us. Perhaps we should consider the value of simple lessons, and see the wisdom of clearing our minds to receive them. God has things to teach each generation. We could be the generation that learns this one.
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