Hold Your Peace

According to Prov 11:12-13, when you hold your peace you demonstrate that you are a:

Man of wisdom.  He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.  To despise is to look down on with disrespect.  Since wisdom comes from fearing the Lord, we should fear God and consider the judgment seat of Christ before running down someone.  According to Rom 14:10-13, we aren’t the judge; God is the judge.  And we all have to stand before him and give account of ourselves to God.

When we fear God, we obey him.  He told us to “be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another”, Rom 12:10.  It shows that you are void of wisdom when you won’t do what he said.  You’re better off to hold your peace, than to despise your neighbor.

Man of understanding.  A man of understanding holdeth his peace.  In Lk 6:41-42, Jesus told us to deal with the beam in our own eye before trying to help a brother with the mote (a speck) in his eye.  A man of understanding recognizes that if he can see the other’s mote, he undoubtedly has his own beam.  And he knows that if he comments to others about his brother’s mote, what he says can come back on him.  Prov 26:27 says that if you dig a pit, you’re going to fall therein.  You’re better off to hold your peace.

Man of a faithful spirit.  A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.  You may know a secret about another person.  But as soon as you tell it, then it is no longer a secret.  A man with a faithful spirit won’t tell it.  Prov 10:12 says, “love covereth all sins”.  Prov 17:9 says, “he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends”.

A man with a faithful spirit can hold on to what he knows without divulging it.  People often recover from something they did and if you haven’t divulged it, then it isn’t going to be held against them forever.  You certainly don’t want people blabbing about your past.  So don’t run your mouth about theirs.  Hold your peace.