Barnabas Ministries UK

Rev. A. Linford, before his decease, was recognized as a good, great and interesting Bible teacher in the Assemblies of God Fellowship for many years. He was a well-loved Bible College lecturer and writer that bequeathed a tremendous amount of Biblical material in his generation. What a legacy he has left to be researched and brought forth to refresh our day! We shall be using such on this site: His writings from the book of Proverbs and also his Editorials that he wrote for the Redemption Tidings when he was its editor. I trust you will enjoy and appreciate

BUT TALK SENSE

“The lips of righteous feed many” – Proverbs 10: 20, 21

How blessed the tongue can be when it pours out words of worth! The secret behind such helpful expressions is righteousness.  If the heart is right the words will be right. Our speech is but a reflection of our true self; that is why by our words we shall be justified or condemned when Christ judges to works of men Matthew 12:37.

Good conversation enriches: “The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver” – silver refined and free of dross. So when good men speak they do so out of good intent and without guile. Not so to wicked. “The heart of the wicked is of little worth”, judged by true wisdom his inner life is base metal, and so his words add little that in of true value to us. Talking with him is often a waste of time. At best his conversation is absorbed in trivialities, at worst it is defiled with profanities. But the righteous man enriches us with pearls of wisdoms gems of discernment, nuggets of moral worth and silver of choice expressions – all drawn from the treasury of his own rich stores of wisdom and truth.

Good conversation edifies: “The lips of the righteous feed many” in two ways. First literally, in that persuasive speech can induce the “haves” to minister to the, 2have-nots”. Herein lies the basis of all propaganda. The art of persuasion by the adroit use of words can influence the actions of others, as many famine spells make clear. Secondly, figuratively, in that sensible: conversation can feed the mind. Be impartation of knowledge by wise instruction builds up the inner man. Jesus spoke of His own teaching as laying a solid and sure foundation for living. Even so the good words of a wise man add strength and beauty to receptive hearers. But the fool refuses the good sense of wholesome advice and despises the instruction of the godly. He not only despises the mental stimulation and moral sustenance of good conversation, he fails to feed himself and so “dies for want of understanding”, his mind withered and warped in its lack of moral truth. God’s wisdom adds quality to life, without it the mind merely vegetates in the arid soil of human folly.

PRAYER :

Make me wise unto salvation by Thy word, O Lord!