Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the morning mindset. It's time for you and me to get our minds aligned with the truth of God, and I'm hoping all ways, as we record these episodes, that that trickles down into your heart, that your heart gets aligned with God's way of thinking as well.

Now, as we get started, I want to thank you. If you have been a part of the ministry of not a needy person, if you've come there and you've seen the needs and you have given of your resources to help those in need, thank you.

Thank you so much, the people who are posting their needs there are being so blessed by your generosity, and there are many who are still posting needs even, as we speak most likely, thank you so much for helping them.

Alright, let's move on into Proverbs 11 verses 12 through 13. Here we're going to be reminded of a saying that maybe your grandmother said to you or your mother said to you or maybe your father, I don't know.

But I heard when I was a child, if you can't say anything good, then don't say anything at all. And that is some wise advice, isn't it?

That's essentially what we're seeing here in Proverbs 11 verses 12 through 13. Only Solomon is going to be a little more specific than just saying being unable to say anything good.

He says, whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. So stop for a moment. He's saying when you cut other people down, when you make them seem to be in the negative light in the eyes of others,

you really lack sense. You're not a very wise person. You don't understand that by doing so, you're not building yourself up. You're not making yourself look good in the eyes of others.

In fact, others look at you, and they wonder, why are you such a negative person? What have you got against that other person? And then they probably also wonder, what is he or she saying about me when I'm not around?

You see, but Proverbs 11, 12 contrasts that with the man or the woman of understanding. They remain silent. When they have some negative perspective about a person, they remain silent.

They don't speak it for everyone to hear. They don't throw it out there to make themselves look bad. They just remain silent. They don't say anything when they can't say something good.

But then in verse 13, it says, whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

Now, slandering is a little bit more than just belittling. Slandering has built into it the connotation that you're saying something false about someone intentionally.

You are pointing out something to get them in trouble, so to speak, is what slandering is about. It's an intentional desire to make a person look negative in the eyes of others.

You see, slandering, he's saying, reveals secrets. It means it's uncovering things that should not be uncovered.

Whether it's something that really truly did happen in that person's life, or something about yourself as the slanderer that is being exposed for everyone else to see, the kind of lack of character that you have.

The Solomon goes on, he says, he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

So do you want to be a trustworthy person? Do you want others to see you as being trustworthy?

Then you need to be careful about your tongue. You need to hold your tongue. You need to be quiet. You need to not be little.

You need to not slander and reveal the secrets of others. You see, sometimes we get this perverse feeling of power when we are able to reveal something about another person

that nobody else knows or that very few people know. And you see, I say it's a perverse sense of power because it's not really a sense of power.

It's just revealing how discerning we are and how untrustworthy we are.

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