Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. Romans 13:10
A few days ago a neighbor called to ask me if I knew anything about the trustworthiness of someone living close but not in our immediate neighborhood. She was needing someone to do some light housekeeping and had seen this person working for another neighbor and she appeared to be a hard worker. The difference was that the work the person was performing was outdoors and my neighbor needed help inside the house, creating more opportunities for wrongdoing. I didn’t want to be in the position of making a judgment on this person and I couldn’t, really, because I didn’t know her. The thing was, I did know some negative information regarding the person with whom the subject of this investigation happened to be living. I felt stuck between that proverbial rock and a hard place, not wanting my neighbor to become a victim and yet, not wanting to harm another person’s reputation or cause them not to be hired when perhaps the extra income was really needed. I hedged the topic and, as it turned out, my neighbor had already been given the information that I had been aware of. That time I was saved from saying something that may have been harmful to someone I didn’t even know.
A phrase that Pastor Sarah used in her very insightful sermon this past Sunday really reached out and grabbed me. She told us not to dabble in darkness. Her reference in that message had originally been regarding some major disagreement between Jews and Gentiles as Christianity was blossoming following Jesus’ ministry here on earth. Paul makes some pretty strong statements in Romans 13 about the ways in which we can “indulge {y}our evil desires” and he’s very adamant that we need to steer clear of said immoralities. He refers to “ the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, and immoral living.” Hopefully, we are able to abstain from those but he also mentions “quarreling and jealousy.” I would add gossiping to that list. And I think that the situation I described above is right on the border of gossiping and it could potentially have hurt another person. 
We hear of all kinds of evil that exists in our world today and many of us feel a major disconnect from it because we think it doesn’t involve us. But there are many subtle forms of evil that may not even appear as evil or darkness. And so we dabble just a little on the dark side. Maybe it was a bit of gossip that was just too juicy to ignore or perhaps it was that nasty barb we threw at a spouse as he or she was going out the door. Maybe that cashier gave us too much change but that’s okay. What’s the old saying, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Or perhaps a co-worker made a big mistake and the temptation to pass that little tidbit on to the boss was just too great. And we wonder why our kids tattle on each other.
In a confrontation, typically no one is entirely wrong or entirely right. None of us is perfect….we’re all human and we’re going to make mistakes. But recognizing those mistakes, asking for forgiveness, and trying to do better in the future is the life we accepted as Christians. When we stumble, and we all will, it’s imperative to get back up, make proper amends whenever possible, and have that little talk with Jesus. He wants to know we’ve acknowledged our shortcomings. Everything we say or think or do affects someone, even if it’s only ourselves. For the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing the phrase “engage core” from my physical therapists. For today’s purposes, I need to amend the phrase to “engage heart and mind before all else.”
When was the last time you “dabbled in the darkness?”
So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause
another believer (or non-believer, as well, because our behavior could either help or hinder their decision
to believe) to stumble and fall. Romans 14:13 NLT
