The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:7
Reading through the article on NFL players’ decision to kneel during the playing of our national anthem made my blood boil. Not because they didn’t have the right to bring attention to their social cause—according to the US Constitution, everyone has the right to peacefully protest. Even the Bible speaks of prayerful protest as in the case of the Right to Life movement.
No, my beef with this particular article was the thoughtless responses shown to people who disagreed. The name-calling and general ugliness sent my temper soaring to the point that I wrote my own biting response. But before I hit the send button, I realized something.
I was no better than the folks I condemned.
Proverbs is my favorite book in the Bible, mainly because I love its common sense and straight forward advice, and boy, does it address the problem of man’s opinions. In Proverbs 18:2 that ‘fools find no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing their own opinions.’ Proverbs 1:22 says, ‘How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance? How long with you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? How about Proverbs 12:23 which says, ‘A shrewd person conceals knowledge, but a foolish heart publicizes stupidity.’
As living, breathing creations, God gave us the ability to seek knowledge, to think, and to feel. But that doesn’t give us the right to berate and insult someone else for having a different point-of-view than ourselves. So how do we do this? That’s a three-part answer. First, by controlling our tongue-‘When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is wise.’ (Proverbs 10:19) We should be ready to listen to others voice their concerns- ‘My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.’ (James 1:19) We must learn to control our temper-‘don’t let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools.’ (Ecclesiastes 7:9)
I’m not going to lie—Controlling my tongue (or in my case, my keypad) is still hard at times. But if I want to be the woman God wants me to be, I need to remember how to answer any disagreement with the respect and love for others that God lays out in the Bible, or better yet, walk away rather than cause pain and damage my testimony.
Prayer—Lord, help me learn to control my tongue. Make my words respectful and loving, a testimony of Your grace inside of me.
Patty
