Words Matter: Check Your Sources

“The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.” (Proverbs 12:5)

I read recently that we each speak around 25,000 words a day – and we hear many times more than that. It’s no wonder we treat words like they’re meaningless. It’s easy to believe the old cliches: “Words are cheap.” “You’ve got to walk the talk.” “Sticks and stones . . .”

words_350But God’s Word – and specifically the seven verses from Proverbs 12 we’ll look at this week – says that words are powerful. For one, they reveal what’s really going on in our hearts and minds. How we use them shows who we are.

Today’s verse tells us not to go looking for good advice from wicked people – people who do wicked things. Their advice lies, either because they’re really lying to us or because they don’t know the truth themselves. If you want true advice, go to people known for telling the truth and doing good.

More tomorrow.

Think: Whose advice are you most likely to listen to? How careful are you about what voices you are willing to trust?

Pray: Ask God to help you to make wise choices about who you trust to give you good advice.

Do: Listen this week for words of advice offered from friends or media or other sources and think about who it is that is giving the advice and how you can know if that person is trustworthy.