Friday!

Proverbs!

A person 

giving false testimony against his neighbor 

is like a club, 

a sword, 

or a sharp arrow.

Proverbs 25:18 CSB

It's like using a club against someone.

It's like using a sword.

And then there's the arrow. How relevant is this to our world today where I can say anything about anybody from a distance, from the safety of my keyboard.

Using a club is up close, but firing an arrow, you can do that from a long way away, from relative safety.

Seems obvious, so why is this Proverb here?There's only 2 people in this proverb. The person with all the weapons, and the neighbour. 

Yes sometimes we are that neighbour and we have felt the effect of the club, the sword, the arrow of someone else lied about us. 

But I think this Proverb is here to remind me that my words have power, and they can wound, they can hurt, they can destroy. 

And it's here to make me wonder why I would give false testimony about someone else...because I get something from it. 

Power, prestige, the win, I divert consequences from me to someone else, there's a host of reasons. 

Using words against someone else is so much easier than using a club or sword or arrow, but the effect is the same. 

"Lord Jesus, help me to be slow to speak today, to take care that my words are not weapons of war, but weapons of grace today.

Amen"

#proverbs

#wisdom

#somethingtochewon

#sobeit