Have you ever heard the saying, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? I have made some pretty lip-puckering lemonade over the years. I’m sure the idea was to turn those lemons into a cool, refreshing drink and then “suck it up.” But for me, sometimes it felt more like sucking up resentment and swallowing abuse.

The fact is, we live in a fallen world full of imperfect people. Believe it or not, you and I are among them, and we may have served up super-sour lemons to others, knowingly or unknowingly. You might wonder what sucking lemons has to do with this article. Everything.

God authored a book about every person ever conceived. Psalm 139:16 says that before we were born, God planned every day of our lives and wrote each one in His book. Those pages hold His plans, His purposes, and the call and anointings He placed on our lives. His heart’s desire is to give us hope and a future.

Sadly, there is an enemy who wants you hopeless, futureless, and—more than anything—anointing-less. And he uses people, even fellow brothers, and sisters in Christ, to try to steal that away. One way he does this is through what the Hebrews call Lashon Hara, which means “evil tongue.”

It’s talking about someone in a damaging or demeaning way—even when it’s true. Truth is not a hall pass for cruelty. If we use someone’s appearance, weakness, or struggle against them, we’re not showing discernment. We’re gossiping in church clothes.

Not long after I was freshly saved, still thinking Christians were perfect people, I was surprised to find otherwise. Some acted like junior-high mean girls who believed everything they did was done in righteousness. This is how the enemy deceives us. The next thing you know, we can act like self-righteous, know-it-all Pharisees—people who know the Bible but unintentionally ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit.

One of my first run-ins was with a mom whose child attended the same Christian school as mine. She felt the need to “spiritually guide” me by sharing her opinion of two teachers—a sweet married couple. I had known the wife since grade school. She had struggled with her weight as a child but had the biggest heart and a smile that could change the world—and in her own way, it did.

She married a man who also struggled with his weight and had an equally infectious personality. They loved God and were great with the children.

Then this opinionated, small-framed woman informed me, “I would never allow a fat person to lay hands on and pray for my kids.”

I was shocked! Before I could filter my response, I blabbed out, “Why?!”

She launched into a full deliverance sermon, using out-of-context Scriptures about gluttonous eaters and Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. She pointed to Eli’s weight and his sons’ corruption to claim that anyone that fat must be bound by demons. Filled with despise and disgust for the couple, she said she would not risk those demons passing to her children through prayer.

I was shocked by the hatred in her words. What surprised me most was how quickly she used Scripture to judge this couple. She looked at their bodies and decided they were bound by demons. In just one conversation, she made herself judge, jury, and executioner.

Jewish tradition says Lashon Hara kills three people: the speaker, the listener, and the person being talked about. Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of the tongue. Our words can encourage someone to obey God or make them feel disqualified from ever being used by Him.

I heard that two of the most despised groups are overweight people and old people. Whether or not they top somebody’s statistical list, weight stigma and ageism are very real. In a world full of overweight people, older people, and overweight older people, the devil is doing exactly what he set out to do: shut them up.

The devil does not care which side of the conversation he uses. If he shames the messenger into silence, he wins. If he fills the listener with prejudice so they reject the messenger before hearing the message, he still wins.

We cannot allow that.

Isaiah 53:3 says: “He (prophesying Jesus going to the cross) is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Jesus took being despised and rejected at the cross so we don’t have to carry it. Healing is available in that area. We can’t control whether someone despises us, but we can put the Blood of Jesus between our hearts and the curse of being despised—and cancel that assignment.

Sadly, the woman’s eyes were blinded by deception. She never mentioned the couple’s love for God, their care for the children, their prayers, their teaching, or the kindness this woman had shown since childhood. She only saw their size and made it the evidence, the verdict, and the sentence.

If that couple had heard those words, they might have doubted whether they were qualified to pray for anyone. It could have pulled them away from the children God called them to love or silenced God’s handwritten message inside them.

I don’t want to stand before God with pages of my book scribbled out because I chose my own way or let someone else’s opinion silence me. And I certainly don’t want my words to become the ink that scribbles out a page God wrote for someone else.

God authored your story, and His hand is still guiding you. He called and equipped you, and He will lead you. Lift your head with confidence and follow Him with joy.

Remember this: There is only one true Judge, and His verdict is the only one that matters.

“The heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.” —Psalm 50:6