Speak gently
Apr 8
Proverbs 15
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,
but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
My reading today is from Proverbs 15. Verse one says that the gentle answer turns wrath. In my experience this is very sound advice. The whole of Proverbs is about the pursuit of wisdom and this verse is full wisdom. The verses that I have been reading in the last few chapters of Proverbs have been about power and the use of the tongue. A gentle answer is more about the spirit of the person than about the actual words he uses.
This does not mean that we cannot ever be angry because the Bible tells us that we can be angry but that we should not sin. Jesus Christ was angry on a number of occasions and we saw how he went into the temple and drove out the money changers who were doing business in place of worship. Jesus did this on more than one occasion. Anger is not a sin back when anger spills over into a loss of temper it becomes sin. The problem with a loss of temper is that we lose control of our self and the flesh takes over and at that point we enter into sin. The wisdom of Proverbs is that we should always think carefully before we speak and that when we speak with choose our words carefully and we speak gently.