Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
"If you have a tendency to talk a lot or to listen a lot, you are digging your own grave." Man can become addicted to anything: talking or listening, spending money or hoarding it, exercising or flopping on the couch. Only the power of God can save us from becoming a slave to one of the millions of passions that can shackle the soul.
Solomon said, "The talk of the lips tendeth to penury", and that is true. There are many problems that result from foolish, idle talk. It is also true that one who is prone to much talk is often one whom is prone to listen to the wrong voices. The addiction to idle talk is often accompanied by an addiction to idle listening, and the results of either one are many and deadly.
Solomon instructed his son not to stand around listening to a fool talk. He said, "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." How many of God's children are weak in spirit and confused because they do not obey this commandment! Multitudes of the children of God sit still every Sunday morning, listening attentively to men in pulpits who do not know God, but they will not "go from the presence" of such foolish men. Why? Because of an addiction to the spirit of Christianity, the strongest narcotic on earth that is peddled today.
My brother, if you are among those who are still addicted to listening to Christian ministers speak, Jesus has something for you. You have no idea what joy and peace will fill your soul when you are finally liberated from an inner obligation to tune into a Christian TV or radio broadcast, or to sit in the pews of a Christian church while the ministers spread more wrong ideas about God. Every child of God everywhere who cannot cease from listening to Christian teachers is addicted to something that God hates.
If you are addicted to talking or addicted to listening, you are digging your own grave. Don't hurt God again by hurting yourself more. He loves you. And He will set you free from your attraction to vain words that keep you from understanding His truth.