TLIC FAMILY. PROVERBS. OCTOBER 17: WHISPERER.

THINK TOGETHER.

Do you know what slander is?

READ TOGETHER

Proverbs 26:20-22. ²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. ²¹As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. ²²The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

Here we get three proverbs in a row all about the whisperer. The whisperer is what we would call a slanderer. Do you know what a slanderer is? The slanderer doesn’t just tell other people’s business like a gossip does. The slanderer tries to intentionally cause problems by saying things that aren’t true or that are half true so as to make others look bad. Usually they say it quietly, like a whisper.

Slanderers kindle strife. They throw wood on the fire of other people’s arguments. Maybe all would have been forgotten, but the slanderer keeps bringing it up, bringing more people into the argument by spreading a story around, making even more people upset. People who weren’t involved in the first place. But because slander is so delicious, like a tasty morsel, others just eat it up.

Have you ever been slandered? Have you ever been a slanderer?

One place that you see a whole lot of slander is on social media. Just yesterday I read a post by one Christian accusing another Christian of something. Other people asked if the accusation was even true. Because social media is public, many people were commenting their opinions. The fire was spreading. (I did not comment btw) Social media is one big whisper.

Jesus doesn’t want us to be whisperers, gossips, or slanderers. He wants us to be peacemakers. He wants us to stop the spread of stories and bad reports whenever we can. He wants us to show grace and kindness to others, even if they did mess up. Best of all he gives us the ability to stop slander in its tracks, the power of his own love and kindness inside of us.

Because of Jesus we have love, kindness, and truth inside of us.

With Jesus we can refuse to listen to slander and say kind things instead.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Evaluate your social media use. Does it increase “whispering?” Does it spread negative things about others? What changes do you need to make?

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, I know your love is in me. Help me to spread it around today. Amen.