If God does truly ordain everything, even when the hairs on our heads fall to the ground (Matt. 10:30), then nothing in our lives happens by chance. God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines, and in this case, he uses false accusations to conform you to the image of Christ. There may be occasions when you must respond swiftly and firmly when someone falsely accuses you of sin. On other occasions, however, you may have to wait on Providence to resolve the situation.

As a pastor, you hope that people in your church will love, respect, and value your service to the church. This pattern marks, I believe, of the vast majority of the people in the church. At the same time, there will be some who dislike you and your ministry to the point that they will level false accusations against you. What should you do when this happens? And how do you handle this situation in a Christ-like manner?

As you can imagine, handling false accusations calls for wisdom and patience. Far too many people look at sin in rather binary terms: if someone wrongs you the only remedy is immediate restitution. Depending on the nature of the false accusation, wisdom might call for a patient and calm response rather than immediate action, such as church discipline. On one occasion I conducted a pastoral visit with a family and they decided they were going to light into me. The couple was yelling at me at the top of their lungs and accused me and the session of running the Sunday School like a concentration camp. I don’t take kindly to being likened to a Nazi and so I immediately but politely confronted them on the sinful nature of their statements. They were free, I told them, to register their discontentment with my ministry but drew the line at such comparisons. I could have demanded an immediate apology but wanted to give the situation time. Things simmered down and I was able to leave without further incident, but I did not receive an apology. I decided to wait to see what would happen. Blessedly, the next day the couple called me to apologize for the way they treated me, and I was grateful to have things resolved.

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