Proverbs 12:17-18 

¹⁷An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies. ¹⁸The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Part of Body

         What will you answer if you were asked, “Which part of human body is the sharpest?” Someone said, “The eyes are the sharpest parts of the human body.” Angry eyes ready to attack are sharp!”Another one argued, “The tongue. The tongue speaks of sharp words that can pierce right through the innermost being.”

         Together, reflect on Psalm 55:21, ²¹His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.

         Have you observed when sale agents talk smoothly? They choose words to convince potential clients to buy their product. They know what can motivate buyers. What undeniable motivation do you wish to satisfy when you buy things?

We want to be happy! We purchase the best car, dress, food, house; we want to experience what others experience; we travel to see wonderful place around the world. Why do we want to experience such and such? We want to be happy!

         Have you ever pondered upon why do we want to be happy? Why don’t we like to be sad or lonely? Both happiness and loneliness are undeniable emotions, but we always prefer happiness, and we just cannot appreciate loneliness, why?

         It feels great when we are happy. It feels terrible when we are lonely. You may be happy today but tomorrow, personal problem, family concern may cause loneliness. Both happiness and loneliness in this world are temporary. Agree?

Can you accept that happiness in this world is actually a fractional taste of eternal happiness in heaven? Can you accept that loneliness in this world is just a partial suffering of eternal loneliness in hell? The Lord designed both happiness and loneliness to be experience in this world, why? Does God want us to reflect on the expected eternal happiness in heaven and impending loneliness in hell?

         It is great feeling to be happy. Has anybody openly declared that they want to experience anything so that they can be lonely? We all want happiness; we do not like loneliness. Realistically, we long to be satisfied; we yearn to be happy. Biblically, such yearning for happiness explains the reality of Ecclesiastes 3:11,

        ¹¹God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

    God has designed temporal experience of gladness and sadness in this world.

         He reserved eternal gladness in heaven and eternal loneliness in hell. Not anyone can imagine or reflect on such reality. Faith in God helps us believe such. As we grow spiritually mature in our faith, we can discern such reality, such truth.

1.  Truth

¹⁷An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.

         It has been told, reiterated and published that, “Honesty is the best policy, if not the only policy to many.” Yet, honesty had been pushed aside and gave way to deceit. Can you identify honest people when they tell the truth? Do you know when liars falsely testify? Before the Sanhedrin, they gathered liar witnesses to charge the Lord Jesus Christ, yet they found nothing against him.

         It was narrated in Matthew 26:59-63, ⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward ⁶¹and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent.

         Jesus exemplified a response when falsely accused; he remained silent. The right to remain silent when falsely accused is provided in the law of the land. To be silent is helpful defense from self inflicted harm and deceitful interrogation

         It’s better to remain silent if we can’t articulate enough or smartly verbalize before interrogators what we wish them to know. We don’t know who watches for statements that they can use against us to support their personal agenda.

Abner

         David was crowned king over the tribe of Judah after King Saul died. And, Abner the commander of Israel’s army made Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul king over Israel. Few years later, King Ish-Bosheth accused commander Abner.

It narrated in 2 Samuel 3:8-12, ⁸Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, “Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman! ⁹May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath ¹⁰and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.” ¹¹Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him. ¹²Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.”

When Abner made Ish-Bosheth king of Israel, he may have avoided to be accused of betrayal to King Saul. Abner and King Saul were first cousins. But from his statement above, Abner was waiting for the right reason to hand over to King David the kingdom of Israel. Ish-Bosheth made the biggest mistake of his life when he did not trust commander Abner and accused him of wrongdoings.

There are times when we don’t ponder upon reckless and careless words. Do you agree that the Lord can empower us and our tongue to glorify him?

2.  Tongue

¹⁸The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

         The tongue of deceivers are driven by shady devious agenda; they hurt or pierce like swords. Dishonest personalities, especially politicians, spread gossips to promote their fishy agenda. And the church is not exempted from politics.

Audaciously brazen politicians in the church shamelessly cause church problem.

There are daring church attendees who don’t care if the church split. Don’t they know that they hurt the church? Do they believe that the church is the body of Christ? Someone presented this rhetorical question, “If they’re daring to cause church split, can you trust them that they will be loyal to their followers? If they dare to hurt the body of Christ, can you trust them that they won’t hurt followers?”

Termination

         When the church leaders assumed that the principles and mission purpose of their pastor were not aligned to the objectives of the church, they terminated his contract. Some church members expressed their loyalty to the pastor. They informed him that they want to leave the church and follow him.

         The pastor instructed them. “No! Don’t leave the church because of me. I don’t know where God may lead me. Serve the Lord and not pastors or leaders.”

         Truly, if they attend church because they believe in Christ, they can be loyal to the church. But if they attend church because of other reason, we cannot expect loyalty from them. What is your reason of attending church gatherings?

         An article was published about common reasons of people attend religious gathering. They sense spiritual fulfillment and connection when they belong to a religious community that shares experiences to build meaningful relationships. Worship or program for children and family are popular reasons to attend church.

We are admonished to gather as a church. It says in Hebrews 10:22-25.

         ²²Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

         If we expect Christ to return sooner, other personal reasons of attending church should also be aligned to our objective to encourage one another. We should behave and encourage one another to be loyal to Christ and serve him. We have to be careful that our tongue will testify of God’s love and grace in us.

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