Proverbs 17:27-28
He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

One time when I was talking to an old veteran pastor who was an amazingly good preacher of the Word, I asked him for some advice on how to become a good preacher. I said to him, “I would be so happy if I could preach half as good as you do, ” that was my attempt at honoring him and staying humble, but I will never forget his response, “unless you want to preach twice as good as I do, you won’t amount to a hill of beans!”

The second thing he said was, “don’t be a jabber box!” I think he could see my look of confusion and he said, ”the more you talk all day long the less passion you will have in your preaching.” He went on to say, “the early church fathers used to say, ‘If you want the oven to stay hot, don’t open the door all the time.’”

It is a balancing act for me, I need to talk to people, to work on growing in my relationship with those that I am called to Pastor, but not to be a jabber box. I need to talk to Patty, she enjoys conversation, but one thing I know is that if I listen attentively she will do most of the talking.

One thing I know is true is that the more I talk, the more apt I am to sin, and a corollary to that is, the more I talk, the less wise I seem to be.