Each morning I enjoy spending time with God, reading His word and seeking Him in prayer. I often use one of the Bible app plans to aid me in pulling out truth from the scriptures. This week in particular I’ve been asking God each day to give me a nugget of truth that I can take into my day and apply to my life as a whole.
Today I was reading through the commentary in the Bible app plan I’m using and the writer was speaking about how we establish a good reputation with God and other people. He made the statement that we should always speak about others as if they were present to hear. He stated that we establish trust in those who are present at the time by our loyalty to those who are not.
Wow! This was today’s nugget for me. God was showing me and speaking to me through this writer that it is vitally important that I always speak kindly about others to others. If what I am saying about someone is not something I would say to them if they were present, then I should NOT say it!
I love that the writer said that we will establish trust with those who are present when we are loyal to those who are not. That, to me, is profound!
How do we achieve loyalty to others who are not present? By only saying things that we would want them to hear.
Have you ever heard “through the grapevine”, as the expression goes, what someone said about you that made you mad, or surprised you, or saddened you? Have you ever found that someone violated a trust with something you shared in secret and asked them to keep that way? Did you feel differently about that person afterwards?
I am certainly chewing on these thoughts and considering my words that I speak, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and help me establish trust and a good reputation with others (and most certainly with God) by being careful to watch what I say to others about others.
Proverbs 3: 3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” NIV
Proverbs 3:3-4 “Don’t lose your grip on love and loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.” The Message
I hope these truths resonate with you too, my friend. Let’s all protect our speech, honor others with our words, and build our reputations by staying loyal and true to those who are not in our presence when we are speaking about them!
We also need to remember that God is always present, and He always hears everything we say. He desires for us to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us when we speak and act, and by doing so we can be assured that we will always do and say the right thing.