My Daily Pause

The Gossips – 1948 – Norman Rockwell

A wicked messenger brings nothing but trouble,
but a trustworthy one makes everything right.  – Proverbs 13:17 NCV

Trustworthy messengers are still a scarce resource in today’s world. Relaying information via word of mouth accurately is difficult – even when the messenger’s intentions are good. There is even a party game where one will whisper a message into the first person’s ear and then the group passes it around the room to see if the last person can get it right.

They usually fail.

We deal with that problem every day. Sadly, we are used to handling every bit of information through a filter:

• What is the news source?
• Who is giving the advice?
• Does this report make sense?

If we have to ask these things in the day-to-day routine, what about important matters?

Who is teaching in your church?

If a false messenger can ruin a nation, what can it do to your salvation? The noble Bereans checked out Paul and Silas as they taught to find out “whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

That’s a good example to follow when a person starts a sentence with “The Bible says …”

When you hear that, always take the time to check it out for yourself.

It is painful when trust fails

Trusting unfaithful people when you are in trouble
is like eating with a broken tooth or walking with a crippled foot. – Proverbs 25:19 NCV

This is a two way street. We can give as good as we get on this one.

• There are those who make a habit of backing out of commitments
• There are “friends” that disappear at the first sign of trouble
• There are those that let anger end relationships

We often leave ourselves open to the kind of pain the Proverbs writer describes when we are dependent on others. We have to be very careful of who we trust.

There isn’t much we can do about how others act though.

What we can do, is see this as a good place to apply the golden rule. (Matthew 7:12) When we demonstrate the proper way to be a friend we compel other to be the same way. Never backing out of a commitment demonstrates its importance. Anger should never drive any decision.

Be faithful. Trustworthy. Dependable. This gives you all the power you need to influence others in life, but more importantly toward God.