Sept.07.04: Light for the Day - "The Silence of Arguments"

-- Proverbs 21:23
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from troubles.

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Ruth Bell Graham tells a humorous story about her daughters, Anne and Bunny. When Ruth ran to the kitchen to investigate some loud cries, she found three-year-old Bunny holding her hand to her cheek, looking very disapprovingly at her sister. "Mommy," explained five-year-old Anne, "I'm teaching Bunny the Bible. I'm slapping her on one cheek and teaching her to turn the other one so I can slap it, too."

When we are wronged, our first response is more likely to fight back than to turn the other cheek. But many have found that fighting back can be counterproductive.

Missionary E. Stanley Jones was being publicly slandered by someone he had once helped. Jones' first response was to write his accuser a letter he relates was "the kind of reply you are proud of the first five minutes, the second five minutes you're not so certain, and the third five minutes you know you're wrong."

Jones knew his comments would win the argument, but lose the person. "The Christian," he said, "is not in the business of winning arguments, but winning people," and he tore up the letter. A few weeks later - without having said a word - Jones received a letter of apology from the one who had turned on him.

-- G's LDBW

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-- Proverbs 10:19 
When words are many, sin is not absent, 
but he who holds his tongue is wise.

-- Proverbs 13:3 
He who guards his lips guards his life, 
but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

-- Proverbs 17:27 
27 A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, 
and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, 
and discerning if he holds his tongue.

-- James 3:2 
We all stumble in many ways. 
If anyone is never at fault in what he says, 
he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

-- Proverbs 12:18 
Reckless words pierce like a sword, 
but the tongue of the wise brings healing

-- Proverbs 25:15 
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, 
and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

-- James 3:1-13    "The Tongue"
1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,
8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.
10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.