A Tried Method For Overcoming Our Adversaries

There’s no question that it hurts to have unkind and untrue things said about us. However, it’s not always possible to counteract or correct such charges. The temptation is strong to deny or refute the statements, but to do so only aggravates the situation.

The best way to respond to derogatory remarks, is to live in such a way that all men will know that they are false (1 Peter 3:10-17; cf. Titus 2:6-8). What we “are” (i.e., a child of the King) always speaks much louder than any words which may be said against us.

In the fourth century, John Chrysostom advocated a tried method for overcoming our adversaries that is unsurpassed.

He stated:

“Let this, I say, be our way of overpowering them, and of conducting our warfare against them; and let us astound them by our way of life rather than by words. For this is the main battle, this is the unanswerable argument, the argument from conduct. For though we give ten thousand precepts of philosophy in words, if we do not exhibit a life better than theirs, the gain is nothing” (source – scroll down to heading, "Homily III, #9").

Dear reader, the best protection to our reputation, is to live beyond reproach.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets