BEFORE YOU LISTEN
Proverbs 17:4 NKJV
4 An evildoer gives heed to false lips;
A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.
Yesterday’s devotional was “Before You Speak.” The theme was to allow your heart to lead your mouth. This slowing down in order to speak right words is important in your life and the life of those in your world. Today, we look at the other side of the coin and what we need to do before we listen to just anything and everything. Speaking and listening are important. Which is why James wrote to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. But the caveat is we only need to be quick to hear the right things.
Now, I know you are thinking you can’t help what you have to listen to. I understand that all of us are at times placed in situations with co-workers, friends, family, and everyday interactions where we can not avoid hearing what others are saying. But this verse describes what we have a desire to listen to versus what we happen to hear in the course of interacting with others.
An evildoer gives heed, or we might say pays attention to, false lips. The NLT says, “Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip.” It seems as if some people are magnets for gossip and things that are blatantly false. They grab onto whatever is being said about someone else, particularly if it’s negative. And as much as I hate to admit it, Christians can be just as gossipy as the world. But we couch it differently. We say things such as we need to pray for so and so because, and then gossip. There is a way to cure that. When someone approaches you with the need to “pray for another believer,” grab their hands right then and pray out loud for God to help and have mercy on the person under discussion. The gossipy person will most likely avoid you in the future. We are not people of the darkness; we are of the light. We don’t like darkness and don’t like hearing about it. And we red flag the ones who are constantly coming up with, have you heard about so and so.
The next sentence hits hard. A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful or destructive tongue. We have to hear conversations like this in the course of everyday life, but we don’t have to like it or ask to hear more. The NLT, which can be blunt in its own right, says that “liars pay close attention to slander.” Again, we are not liars, and we don’t want to hear slanderous, destructive things about other people. One of the big problems with slander is that it will taint your perspective of another person. Many of us have heard destructive words about people we have never met, only to meet them and find that they were nothing like what was said about them. We are people of truth. We want the truth spoken about our lives, and we are not eager to hear the negatives about others. We hope other people are not believing untruths people may say about us.
So when someone shares something with you that is not verified, or even if it is true, show mercy. Believe the best and change the subject. You would never want someone to throw their garbage into your house; don’t let them throw garbage into your ears.
PRAYER
Lord, may I never be one to spread anything untrue or hurtful about another. And may I respond in such a way that people do not see me as a receptacle of anything destructive or slanderous. I have better things to listen to.