Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Reading through the 31 chapters of Proverbs each month can give us an understanding of how to serve God.

Proverbs 25:8-10 ESV

8 do not hastily bring into court,
for what will you do in the end,
when your neighbor puts you to shame?
9 Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
and do not reveal another’s secret,
10 lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute have no end..

There is the often told illustration of the three blind men who go to learn about an elephant. The only way they can do this is to feel the elephant. One feels his side and says “The elephant is like a house.” The second man grabs the elephant’s tail and he says, “No, the elephant is like a rope.” The third puts his hands around the elephant’s trunk and he says “You are both wrong – an elephant is like a tree.”

Even so, the Scripture before us warns of drawing a “hasty” conclusion. As all is not gold that glitters, so all is not as it appears to be when it is observed.

This truth can be illustrated in this way. A man sees one of his neighbors load another neighbor’s cow in his trailer, take it to market, sell it, and get the check. The conclusion is evident. His neighbor has stolen a cow and so he reports this. What he does not know is that his neighbors have agreed on this act. What the man witnessed is wrongly understood. What are the results?

• First he is put to shame by his hasty false report.
• Secondly he has seriously failed in his responsibility to talk to his neighbor first.
• Thirdly he has brought for the long term “ill repute” or the reputation of being a busybody and a slanderer upon himself. And he has qualified himself as being an undesirable neighbor.

Application:

A. There must be discipline against drawing hasty conclusions.

B. Your neighbor should be consulted before you accuse him of bad behavior.

C. Caution is to be used in anything spoken. Our reputation is at least partly determined by what we say.