Posted on 01/18/2020 6:56:54 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster” (Proverbs 18:8-9).
“The words of a talebearer are as wounds,” people out telling tales on people, or spreading rumors and gossip, just revealing the worst about other people is talebearing, and it is ugly. Nothing hurts worse in this life than a former friend that decides to talk about you behind your back. It is right that these things are described as “wounds.” It hurts longer than fifty stiches you might get after an accident, they certainly sting a lot longer.
People you once held in the highest admiration to turn around and stab you is just hurtful. Of course, nothing took Jesus Christ by surprise, but it still had to hurt terribly when Judas betrayed him in the garden. The Bible calls him, “my familiar friend.”
Folks have a right to leave their church. Something might come along that feeds you better spiritually than the one that you were previously a member of. But that does not give you the right to bad mouth your former preacher. Many pastors have poured out their lives in other people, helped them when they needed help, even financially—to have those people speak poorly of that pastor is a deep wound and totally uncalled for. In some cases, the art of simple empathy is lacking in America today.
It is a wound down in the heart, deep in the belly. It would be much better for you to just walk up to him and smack him in the mouth than to talk vicious things about him behind his back.
“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”
This is the lazy man, but not everyone is actually lazy—they just run around in circles and waste a lot of time. Some guys just don’t have the motivation to get up and do something, and others get up and don’t do a thing, but they stir up a lot of dust just running around in circles, aren’t doing a whole lot better. Others think just because there is a lot of activity going on, it must be all right. Well, that isn’t always true.
People waste time, waste money, waste opportunities fooling around with the wrong thing. They may be busy, but that doesn’t mean that they are productive, or even doing the right thing.
Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.
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