Words fitly written?

I will continue to post this blog in a trial capacity for a few weeks and then reevaluate it as to its worthiness. In the past I have been critical of blogging, noting that it seems to be a waste of time. In The Divine Voice, Stephen Webb notes that because of the fall, listening has become and arduous task, whether we are listening to God or to one another. We live in a cacophonous world. It seems never more true than in the blogosphere, though the noises are silent. Everyone has something to say - everyone is talking, but it is anyone really listening? Perhaps the question that must first be answered is: is anyone worth listening to? Of course, to warrant being listened to by the wise, one must have something significant to say. The fact that God has spoken and has given us something significant to say in this world has forced be to reconsider the value of blogging and has led me to establish this blog for at least a trial run.

The fact that Jesus Christ is Lord of the blogosphere also inspires me to raise my voice in this din of noisy silence. Since he is Lord of cyberspace, we who have raised our voices need to give thought to how we do so. Christ gives us a great deal of help in thinking about how to blog in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 25:11 says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Every word Christ ever spoke was like an apple of gold set in silver. He spoke words that fit every situation - he did not blab incessantly, but neither was he silent when the setting of silver was empty and needed to filled with that golden apple of his words. We must remember that we will be held accountable for every careless word we post, and we will give account for them on the last great day (Matthew 12:36). So, what is the purpose of every word that you post - every word that I post?

If the words we post are rash (Pro 12:18), harsh (Pro 15:1), perverse (Pro 15:4) or just plain pointless (Pro 15:2) then we must stop, or our words will be destructive in some way or another as promised by the Lord of Glory. Our words may destroy others by gossiping and slandering Our words foolishly published may also destroy by simply putting ourselves in the bad habit of using poor English, wasting our time blogging when we should be reading or developing other disciplines, or by implicit boasting. Proverbs 10:26 says: “Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.” When we consider that we have been sent by God as his messengers, it ought to pain us all the more to consider our too-frequently sluggardly ways as bloggers. Our ill-written words must burn like smoke in God’s eyes.

But Proverbs 29:13 says: “Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters.” When we consider that we have been sent by God as his messengers, it ought to bring us joy to know that our well-written words bring joy to our master.

So, where we have by searching found that golden apple so gloriously hidden by God for our finding, let us set it in the silver of our blogs for all the world to see. If blogging serves that kind of an end, then I will continue to post my findings to the glory of God.