A Word in Season: A Faithful Spirit (Proverbs 11:13)

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It is good to have a faithful spirit, and it's very good to know a faithful spirit.

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The wise teacher of the Proverbs talks about such a person in chapter 11 and verse 13.

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And as so often, the character of this faithful spirit is described at least, revealed in some sense, in opposition to somebody who is not like him, and it's revealed in the matter of our speech.

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So a tale -bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

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Now the faithful spirit here would be essentially a steadfast and reliable friend, somebody to whom you can speak, somebody you could take into your confidence, somebody you can share the truth with about perhaps your hopes and your fears, your plans and your dreams, your expectations and the obstacles that you face.

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And you can do so knowing that that person will keep those things close to their chest and they will, in the best sense, have your back.

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It's not about somebody that you can share wickedness with or lies, who will pretend that it hasn't happened or isn't the case.

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It's somebody who is trustworthy with regard to things that ought to be entrusted to them.

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The opposite is the tale -bearer. The tale -bearer is the revealer of secrets.

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This is the man or the woman who loves a bit of juicy gossip, who loves to be known as the person who is in the know, somebody who perhaps uses knowledge as power, who's always ready to give and then to get a little bit of tittle -tattle, who loves those damaging nuggets of information that they can drop into a conversation or pass on at just the right time in order to do damage to somebody's reputation, to do damage to somebody's plans and purposes, to hinder or upset their righteous progress.

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Now, sadly, this happens a lot in the world, and tragically it happens too often in the church, where knowledge is weaponised.

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You see it in the news media, and it's not really news, but we love to pull people down, and you have those so -called kiss -and -tell stories where there's a relationship of trust or affection, at least of some kind, and even though you may look at the life of the person who's being brought low and say, well, they weren't living righteously, nevertheless they've been betrayed, they've been undone by somebody who couldn't keep a secret.

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Now, the faithful spirit knows how to conceal a matter. Here's that sweet contrast, that person to whom you can speak openly and transparently and confidently.

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It's not about, as we've said, being able to share something that ought to be brought to light and then expecting or relying on that person to keep something hidden that ought to be revealed.

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There's nothing here of dishonesty. Rather, this is somebody to whom you can speak, you can share those things that are on your heart, you can explain your plans and your purposes, confident that they are worthy of your trust.

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It's the man of understanding, in verse 12, who knows when to hold his peace, that unusual power of being able to control your tongue.

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It's not a spirit that does harm to others, that sets out to use words as weapons by which to drag others down.

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Unless there's a greater concern of justice or mercy, this is somebody who, given a piece of information that should remain hidden, knows how to keep it hidden.

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It's a truly faithful spirit and it's a truly reliable friend.

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It's wonderful to think that we can pour out our hearts to Christ and he will never use what he knows against us.

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It's lovely to think that we can pour out our hearts to true friends and that they will not betray us and use those things against us.

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It's one of the reasons why when somebody does betray us, when somebody does turn against us, it's so grievous and so painful.

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Let us learn then to listen more than we speak and to hold carefully those things that are put in our trust, to make sure that we show a faithful spirit in all our dealings, to be reliable, to be steadfast, not to be indulgent, but certainly not to be careless and to hold our secrets and to hold our words when someone is trusting us to have their backs.