Keep your mouth shut

Proverbs 10:12, 14, 18-19 -- 3,000 year-old advice for looking good on social media

Saturday, April 23, 2022

The Book of Proverbs is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament along with the Psalms. It contains the distilled wisdom of Solomon and other godly people like Agur and King Lemuel, and is thought to have been written between 971 - 931 BC.

You might think that a book written almost 3,000 years ago would have nothing to offer the living, but it’s incredibly timely. Here’s a smattering of the wisdom of Proverbs 10:

'Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses. Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster. Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool. Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. '

Proverbs 10:12,14,18-19

Why did I pick this Proverb for today’s devotional? Well, after running my mouth off on social media during the 2020 election cycle and distancing myself from a number of friends, I decided that I needed to start taking these words to heart. Here’s how I did it.

• Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses: I stopped my long-established habit of publicly calling people morons if they didn’t have my same opinions, and instead apologized publicly for my social media behavior.

• Wise people treasure knowledge, but the babbling of a fool invites disaster: As much as I’d like to think I know a lot, I often found myself throwing out my opinion on things I really wasn’t an expert on. Why? Just because I wanted to show that I disagreed with others. Some of my comments were truly the babbling of a fool.

• Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool: Does this mean it’s OK to show your hatred for others so you’re not lying? Nope! On social media, you’re most likely going to make a false statement about someone else and expose yourself as a fool — even if you’re right! My method now? I keep my opinions to myself. Does that make me a liar because I’m hiding my hatred? No, because if someone continually annoys me with their opinions I now simply block or unfollow them. Not being exposed to that person keeps me from hating their opinions.

• Too much talk leads to sin: Do I really need to pontificate on every single post I see? That only leads to replies that are usually the preface to an online fight.

• Be sensible and keep your mouth shut: The 21st-century equivalent is not only to keep your mouth shut, but your hands from the keyboard. Knee-jerk reactions to things you don’t like are only going to make you look foolish in the eyes of others.

I’m still far from perfect in my day-to-day interactions with my fellow human beings, but keeping these Proverbs and other Biblical wisdom in mind has helped a lot.

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