Verse of the Day - Proverbs 11:9

With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape. ~ Proverbs 11:9 (NIV)

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This world is full of people who like to talk trash about other people. Why that is, I don't know, except that we are fallen creatures who get caught in the vortex of gossip, hatred, and malice. We get on our high-horse and judge people unfairly, and then slander them to others by spreading rumors and innuendos. You may be one who's done the slandering, or maybe you've been the one slandered...or both. But the bottom line is that it's so damaging to people, individually and corporately. We talk about wanting world peace, and yet we can't even get along with our neighbors. And often, we don't even seem to care...!

Let 'em go to the devil, for all I care....he's nothin' but a bum anyway...never waters his grass, and lets his kids run all over the neighborhood! He's just a no-good bum, I tell ya...I wonder how we could get rid of them...

Hmm...

Meanwhile, Mr. No-Good Bum is working 12-hr days at the local factory, while his wife works at the mall. True, his grass isn't getting watered as it should...he's been meaning to fix that sprinkler system, but he's just so tired on the weekends, he hasn't had the energy...or the money. Yes, his kids play outside, but they're not bad kids -- they're just kids, playing like kids do. He can tell some of the neighbors don't like him too well, and he can't figure it out. When he drives down the street and waves, some just act like he's invisible. And he can't help but sense hostility when he takes his kids door-to-door to sell magazines for their school fundraisers. Poor Mr. No-Good Bum...he's the victim of a malicious tongue, which spreads like wildfire to infect his whole block.

God says that the righteous are saved by knowledge. And it only takes one person to stand up for justice and defeat gossip and slander with knowledge. With truth. We, as believers in Jesus, need to be the ones who stand up for justice and slay the malicious and their awful words, to come alongside our neighbors who are being treated wrongly, and embrace them with the love of God! Please let us not be the ones dragging others down, but let us be the ones who defend righteousness and lift up the fallen. Let us be God's salt and light where we live, working toward peace through love, yet exposing gossip for what it is.

Satan would like nothing better than to divide people, so that they tear each other apart like a pack of hungry wolves. Christ followers are called to be a part of God's reconciliation, not one of the hungry pack. Let's examine our hearts and guard our tongue, asking God to give us love for our neighbors.

(read Luke 10:25-37 for Jesus' take on neighbors...)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010:25-37;&version=31;


Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior... ~ Titus 3:1-6 (NIV)

Love,
Joelene