Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father help us to treasure the dignity of others around us. Father, it is so easy to focus only on ourselves, our wants, our needs, our goals and dreams. We are forgetful of little more than we of each other. Make us mindful of one another today, Father. Both within the Body of Christ, and within our neighborhood. Warn away from the foolishness of callous carelessness towards each other. In the powerful name of Jesus, and by the Spirit who guarantees the promise, help to love each other well. Amen.
Your Morning Song: "Take Me In" by Petra
Your Morning Scripture: Proverbs 11:12
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.
...
There are a great many things we can and ought to do for our neighbors. Being a good neighbor is very much about doing good, thoughtful, kind things for those who live close to us. But let's not forget that being a good neighbor also includes what we don't do.
Do not belittle your neighbor.
Why?
Because God said so.
We should always start with "because God said so" when trying to understand the "why" of any of God's commands to us. God said, and so we respond obediently.
But God loves to say more, to give wisdom, to grow us up in maturity, and so He also gives here two clear reasons why other than He said so.
The one who does belittle their neighbor "lacks sense." What does this mean? We are not islands. We are made to be in community with each other. It would be like a stone in a wall trying to push the stone next to it out, or to break it. The strength of the wall to which they both belong would fail.
When we belittle each other and attack each other's reputation and character, we are tearing down not only our neighbor, but we are also tearing ourselves down as well. Like the fool who poison's the only source of water, or who stabs a hole in the only life raft.
Some of us try to hide our foolish attacks as "just being honest" or "I'd say it to their face." But the Bible calls it all dangerous foolishness. It calls it sin. And sinful works can bring only death and destruction.
Do not belittle your neighbor because it hurts everyone involved. And once done, cannot be easily mended.
The second reason is in the follow-up line, "but a man of understanding remains silent."
The two key words here are "understanding" and "silence." The man of understanding, and the woman, are the sort of people who also know what's going on in their neighbor's life. They know a lot of dirt, they have a few secrets. They understand their neighbor. And say nothing to belittle them, nothing to hurt them.
The silence we give each other in a small town, instead of the belittling gossip, is a beautiful gift. If you and I have met, please know that your reputation matters to me. How everyone else in town sees you, matters to me. And if I can, I will defend you. And if I can't defend your reputation, then I will say nothing at all. And in my silence, I am treasuring your dignity.
And this is how God's obedient children live. It is certainly not special to me. But it special to God's family. In a world lit afire by the human tongue and the human desire to tear each other down, we ought to be those who speak life, and of hurtful, death-full things, are silent about each other.
In silence make your neighbor's dignity and reputation a treasure.
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