Tiny Devotional for Monday, 5-24-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, I’m SUPPOSED to write like Moses.

Do not be envious of evil people,
Nor desire to be with them;
For their minds plot violence,
And their lips talk of trouble.
Proverbs 24:1-2, NASB

The Slough of Despond

Stay out of the swamp; why be envious of evil people?

They certainly seem to hold a lot of power. 

Think about bad times in school: who seemed to have power? The gender differences aren’t perfect, but for boys, there were those who used the threat (and delivery) of physical violence to dominate. For girls, relationship aggression was the mode, although we didn’t have the right language to define it until around thirty years ago. 

There are plenty of examples to show that a pattern of aggression continues into the world of work and government. Read the history of Big Oil, the railroads, the Communist and Nazi parties, the Klan (both Reconstruction and the national version in the 1920s), McCarthyism, Jim Crow and redlining, and any number of banking scandals, if you think bullying is limited to the schoolyard.

You’d think we would have learned by now, wouldn’t you? 

But the ONLY sign I can see that we have learned anything is the small voice, here and there, that pops up, warning that social media is producing havoc in our lives. 

It’s a good voice; LISTEN to it! 

You don’t HAVE to be immersed in political & social controversy in order to see pictures of your grandkids, or keep up with high school reunions. A proper application of today’s proverb would have you ask yourself: are the things I’m reading spreading peace? 

If not? Dump them.


Peace be on your household.


Comments

  1. Tobhiyah EmioheMay 24, 2021 at 7:14 AM

    I’ve had to rethink my internet use as well. Great post!

    ReplyDelete

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