“Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
by whether his conduct is pure and upright.”
- Proverbs 20:11
“The way of the guilty is crooked, but
the conduct of the pure is upright.”
the conduct of the pure is upright.”
- Proverbs 21:8
Brothers, God has given us life and breathe and precious little time on this earth. Let us redeem these days as followers of Christ building each other up daily in the Lord.
“Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” - 1 Timothy 4:12.
How are we to treat our brothers and sisters with “all purity”?
God has commanded us to be men and women seeking His kingdom first. (Matthew 6:33) We are supposed to be the unified body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) fighting for purity within ourselves, our family, and our churches. Let us please not distract each other on our quest towards Godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7, 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22) The following is a couple things I have learned from gossip and its effects.
Gossip
- Violates the 8th commandment (Ex. 20:16)
- Breeds bitterness (Prov. 25:18)
- Harbors deceit (Proverbs 24:28)
- Destroys friendships (Proverbs 16:28)
Praise the Lord! :)
6 comments:
I was thinking of Proverbs 6:23 "Gossip separates close friends".
David experienced this...Psalm 109 "...the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love."
But by the grace of God He gives us strength to forgive as we have been forgiven. "Love keeps no record of wrongs"
hmm... while I agree with your Proverbs 6:23, it seems to be absent from my bible. ;)
Proverbs 6:23 ESV
"23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,"
Proverbs 6:23 NKJV
"For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,"
Thanks for the biblical example of gossip. I racked my brain trying to remember one. Reading Psalm 109...
As I thought about it more on the way back to "the house". I felt very ashamed that I couldn't name more examples of gossip and false witness in the scriptures. Here are some examples...
Gossip
Joseph being thrown in prison because of gossip.
John the Baptist killed because of gossip.
Peter's denial
The ten "bad" spies that spied on Canaan.
False Witness
Our Lord before the Pharisees
Paul and Silas thrown in prison because of false witness.
Stephen stoned
etc...
I think I was trying to hard to remember examples that replicate the situation.
Oops, mistype. Try 6:28.
Wrong again! I mean Proverbs 16:28
Aha! There it is! :D It cross references 17:9 which is also a great one. I wish I knew my proverbs better... *sigh* Thanks for locating it! :)
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