Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Proverbs 25:7b-10 – What your eyes have seen do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret, lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end.
When I read this Bible passage, I couldn’t help thinking of an accusation that was brought against my husband some years ago. A man stood up in church and told everybody that with his own eyes he had seen my husband climb up the side of a woman’s house and into the window of her bedroom. Therefore, he said, we should punish him for adultery.
What he left out of the story made all the difference. I know, because I myself was there on that occasion—along with several other worried friends and neighbors. The woman in question had threatened to kill herself, and had locked herself in her upstairs bedroom. She wouldn’t answer to any calling or knocking. As a result, her family had begged my husband, who is very physically fit, to climb the side of the house and find out if she were alive or dead.
Since then, I have tried my best not to pre-judge situations that sound bad at first hearing. What if I passed judgment and then turned out to be just as wildly wrong as that man’s story was? We were fortunate that we could bring witnesses to prove the truth. But if there had been no witnesses, what then?
This is why the author of Proverbs tells us to speak directly to our neighbors if we have a case against them. That way, if we are mistaken, we don’t harm anyone before the truth comes out. Christian love makes it necessary for us to talk to our neighbors first, quietly, before we make a federal case out of something.
Humility comes into it too—because we have to accept the possibility that we could be wrong about what we think we saw or know. God knows everything; but we are not God. And so, when we think someone has sinned, we do well to start by bringing the matter to God Himself in prayer. Then we can go to our neighbors, following the steps Jesus outlines in Matthew 18. Doing that would let us avoid a huge amount of conflict in the church, which is Jesus’ body.
Jesus has a right to be concerned about what happens in His own body, right? If two people in the church have a conflict, Jesus has the first and best right to be consulted about it—and to say what happens next. After all, He is the One who lay down His life for the sins of all of us, in the church or out of it—and who rose from the dead to give us true, everlasting life, filled with peace, love, and mercy. We take our conflicts to Jesus, because He is already involved in them. And He will walk us through them and out the other side if we let Him—because He loves us.
WE PRAY: Lord, remind me to come to You first of all. And thank You for loving us all. Help us to live together in Your peace and truth. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions: