Week 28: Righteous Words
Today’s Text: Proverbs 10
Key Text: Proverbs 10:32
“The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.”
Sometimes we forget what powerful things words are.
It is so easy – too easy – to
- Make that thoughtless, flippant remark to get a joke
- Spread that bit of gossip
- Voice that opinion
- Tell that “little white lie”
- Break that confidence
- Speak too soon
- Speak too carelessly
- Criticize too quickly
If you are never guilty of doing these things…good for you.
If you recognize something on the list, and recall the last time you spoke in such a way, welcome to the club. I think most of us have spoken in such a way now and then.
So it is no surprise that the book of Proverbs spends more than a little time, and gives more than a little attention to the topic of talk – righteous and otherwise.
The tongue is a powerful, and potentially dangerous thing.
On the other hand, we can – with our words –
- Bring comfort
- Offer grace
- Give forgiveness
- Remind others about God’s love
- Support
- Guide
- And Love
Unrighteous words are a terrible thing. Righteous words are a wonderful thing.
Which shall we speak today?
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. “Elpis” is the Greek word for “expectant hope.” He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, and a member of Spiritual Directors International. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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