Unchristian behaviour from those you least expect

Recently I have been absolutely shocked and stunned (and many other adjectives besides) by the behaviour that I have witnessed or the things people have said. The most astounding thing is though, that it is people who call themselves God-fearing Christians who have been indulging in gossip, slander, lying and deceiving.

Now I know I'm not perfect, I will happily be the first person to point that out. I have lied, gossipped, slandered deceived and committed numerous other sins. To claim I have never done any of those things would be an outright lie and no one would believe me because I mean really, deep down everyone knows they are flawed and imperfect; only one man ever was perfect, and that was Jesus Christ.

However as a Christian we have been freed from the bondage of sin. Whereas an unregenerate person has no choice in the matter and is a slave to sin, we do have a choice, we also have God on our side and we can do all things through his strength:

I am able to do all things  through the one who strengthens me. Philippians 4v13

But more importantly it is our duty to strive to be as Christ-like as possible, we are to be imitators of him. Being a Christian is not about having a ticket to Heaven that you whip out of your pocket and redeem when you are on your deathbed. We live to serve God, not ourselves, and God doesn't promise an easy or fun life. Trials, yes. 

Temptation, yes. 

Pain, yes. 

But nothing we can't bear. 

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.                        Colossions 1v9-14

 We are supposed to stand out from the crowd. Not for the wrong reasons, being a notorious liar, having loose lips or being two-faced; but for the right reasons, being kind, caring, looking  out for others, being self-less, etc. 

Recently my family and I have experienced the worst treatment imaginable from the people you would least expect, our 'church family'. I don't want to go into details. It's not really necessary and to be honest I want to forget everything. But I am sadly dismayed that non-Christians seem to understand the decent way to treat one another better than Christians these days, and these 'fake-Christians' give us all a bad reputation. 

Here is a link to an article I read earlier today - How to avoid spreading gossip in 5 easy steps

 Hellogiggles is a secular website and it has not Christian links whatsoever, yet there I found this gem of an article.