Loading summary
Transcript6 lines
- [00:05]
A
Hey, this is Shelby and CJ and we're walking through the Book of Proverbs. We hope that you are either watching on YouTube, listening on a podcast platform where you are subscribed, or following so that you don't miss an episode from us today, we're at Proverbs 25 through 27. CJ, what did you notice in these chapters that you want to draw out today?
- [00:28]
B
I notice another very pragmatic set of proverbs. So Proverbs 26, 20, 22, read as without wood, fire goes out. Without a gossip, conflict dies down. As charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. A gossip's words are like choice food that goes down to the innermost being. Pretty good image. Just some great images of fire and food going down to the belly. It's like you can really picture these things. But again, these are very, very practical proverbs that really make us consider the things we say. Our speech is very important. It's a big part of our life, and naturally we'd expect Proverbs to speak into that. No pun intended. But our speech is important, and we see here that gossip produces conflict. We need to be paying attention to the words we say and, and even those, even that image of the fire that burns, choice food, or, sorry, the fire that burns and then the choice food that sinks down deep into the belly. We really think about how somebody has said something to us at a point in time, maybe it's about somebody else or something about us. And it doesn't really hit right away, but it does sink down. Like our words have a way of sort of hooking into us and digging deep down, and we end up focusing on it and hyper fixating, and it ends up hurting us and hurting other people. And I think this was just a good reminder for me to pay attention to the words I say and how gossip and harsh speech just don't belong among godly people.
- [02:06]
A
Yeah, definitely challenging, for sure. In these proverbs, C.J. how do we see Christ?
- [02:14]
B
Well, here we see that gossip produces strife and conflict, and those are things that are antithetical to the Christian life. And Christ constantly urges us to be peacemakers, to not stir up strife, but to promote peace. So in Matthew 5, 9, it literally says, blessed are the peacemakers. I mean, this is a very famous beatitude, right? This is something we're called to. And if gossip is antithetical to peace, well, we should be staying clear of gossip and poor speech. Galatians 5, 2223 describes peace as a fruit of the Spirit. Of course, this is very well known, but this is something that should mark the Christian life. Bringing peace with our speech, bringing peace with our actions. And the words that we say should reflect what's in our heart. And what's in our heart should be things of God. And. Yeah, so I think this is, again, this is just very convicting. And I think, as you've mentioned before, sometimes the proverbs seem like they're tall tasks, like we couldn't possibly control everything we say. But I think we need to be reminded that as Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. And the Holy Spirit promises to convict us of sin and to push us towards godliness. And those are things that we should be praying for. We should be praying for conviction. We should be praying that the Holy Spirit would. Would show us the parts of our life that need shoring up and that need more of Christ in them. And maybe it's speech for most of us, it probably is. Yeah, I know for myself it is. So I think that is something that we should take away from this proverb.
- [03:43]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Super challenging and a needed challenge in my own life, and I'm sure in many people who are listening. I think one of my takeaways came from Proverbs 27:17. And this is a pretty well known proverb. It says, iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. And I was reminded, and we've seen this throughout Proverbs, but I wanna draw it out here. I was reminded of the role of community in living wisely. And that, you know, obviously iron sharpens iron as they are rubbed up right up next to each other. And so there's like this life on life where you're just right there with someone, they are aware of the places where you're living foolishly. We've talked about this too. You're receiving correction, humbly from them. And so that was one of my takeaways from today. That was a challenge for me in my quest to live wisely. How am I incorporating Christian community in that? Great. All right, thanks, cj. One more episode in the book of Proverbs. So we'll get to that tomorrow.
- [04:46]
B
Great.