Cast Off and Crave
"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." — 1 Peter 2:1-3 Gracious Lord Jesus, my friend and my King, In light of all that Peter has just said about the imperishable and eternal Word of God, I am to therefore cast off, put aside, and get rid of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Each of those words is worthy of study and inspection, but the one I'll focus on now is "slander." The Greek word is katalalia and it means "defamation, back-biting, evil speaking." Unfortunately in the church, this evil habit is all too common. We pick up an offense, harbor a grievance, and then form an alliance with others by speaking negatively against someone behind their back. Even speaking true but damaging information can be considere...