THINK TOGETHER.
Do you like to meddle in other people’s business?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 26:17. Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
You can probably imagine that grabbing a passing dog by the ears is a really bad idea. Especially back in Solomon’s day when dogs weren’t exactly the nice, tame, family pets that they are today. Even today, grabbing a dog by its ears will likely get you bit. The same idea is true for meddling in other people’s arguments.
Solomon is describing the busybody. Someone who just loves to put themselves into the middle of everyone else’s business. Do you know anyone like that? Are you like that? Are you a busybody? Do you insert yourself into everything at school? In your family? Do you have to know what was said by everybody else, and what everybody else is doing, and who’s mad at who, and who said what?
Here’s a more important question: do you take sides when others are having a quarrel or conflict? Do you side with someone because they are your friend? Soon you may have more enemies than friends.
Being a busybody can be pretty hard to resist for some of us. Feeling like we know everything and are involved in everything can make us feel pretty important. But what’s really important is to resist being a busybody. The wise person doesn’t take sides and even walks away when an argument is none of their business.
But the best thing you can do whenever possible is what Jesus taught us to do – be a peacemaker. Our goal should always be to help others resolve their arguments, and sometimes walking away will do just that. Often, the more others get involved, the more the defensiveness and anger grow. Sometimes being a peacemaker means helping BOTH sides to listen and forgive, or to just move on. It definitely takes wisdom to know what to do in each situation. But with Jesus we know for sure that we don’t have to take sides. We can care about both people and seek peace instead.
Because of Jesus we have God’s peace inside of us.
With Jesus we can be peacemakers (even if that means walking away).
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Make Romans 12:18 a family memory verse.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me to be a pacemaker and not a busybody. I want YOU to make me feel important, not my meddling. Amen.
TLICfamily 