THINK BEFORE WE SPEAK

Good Evening to All!  

Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.  (Proverbs 30:10  KJV)

I had to smile when I read this because it brought back so many memories.  

"Timmy was sneaking through the closets looking for presents!"

Timmy's little sister stood with her hands on her hips as she ratted to mom and dad.  "How do you know?" ask their father.  

"I saw him do it, "she replied.  

And just what were you doing in our room?" he further asked.  

A frightened look came across the little girl's face as she realized that by accusing her brother, she had also accused herself.  

I cannot count the times that I was the one who ended up getting into trouble when I tattled on my sisters.  Of course I thought it was my "civic duty" as a "good daughter" to report when my sisters were breaking the rules.  I soon found out that that was not the case.  Oh, they did get in trouble, but I got the worst end of it because I got in trouble for tattling, plus I got the wrath of my sisters for getting them in trouble as well.  

You would think that I would learn my lesson, but it took all the way up into adulthood to do so.

When we get someone into trouble, it is RARELY out of a true sense of duty or honor.  More often it is a case where we cannot mind our own business.  

When someone brings up something about what our neighbors, or someone in our family is doing, the first words out of my mouth are, "oh well, that's their business".  We have enough problems keeping up with our own lives."  

Jesus Christ told His followers to be unconcerned with the actions of others until they made sure that all of their own actions were upright and holy.  His point is this:  If we spend our time minding our own business, there won't be any time left over for us to stick our noses in where they don't belong.  God wants to see each of us grow, but we need to be responsible for our own lives, not the lives of other people.   

Another thought is that the more time we spend worrying about what others are doing,  the less time we spend on our own, and end up neglecting ourselves.  This can be detrimental to our health, our marriage, family and even our souls.  

I looked up the word "tattle" in a thesaurus .  It states one of the synonyms as gossip.  I also looked up gossip in my Biblical Encyclopedia and it states as one of the meanings "tale bearer".  

This is what the Bible has to say about this:

Proverbs 11:13--A talebearer revealeth secrets, but  he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Proverbs 18:8--The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Proverbs 26:20--Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out:  so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

As we know, according to God's Word, the tongue is the most unruly member of the body.  Therefore, we must guard against speaking without thinking first.   We should remember, that we cannot hide ANYTHING from God.  He sees and hears all.  Therefore, if what we have to say is something we wouldn't say or do in front of Jesus, then it shouldn't be said or done.  

As far as accusing others of doing things, I refer back to that group of scribes and Pharisees who wanted to stone a woman taken in for adultery.  Jesus said "he that is without sin among youhim first cast a stone at her.  After they were convicted by their own consciences, and left, Jesus was left alone with the woman.   Anyway, He told her that He condemn her either.  He told her to go and sin no more.

If He who is perfect refused to condemn a woman who according to the law committed a sin which was punishable by death, what right do we have to judge, or  criticize others?  

After all, keep in mind that we as the human race brought all of our troubles on ourselves by going against God's wishes in the first place.

Good night to All and May God Bless!