Mr. Glasshouse

The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor,
​​But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered. Proverbs 11:9

Two big forces at work in this verse, the one who enjoys scoffing at neighbors and the one who feels that compulsion but seeks to do what is right. A latter day proverb we use is: Don't throw rocks if you live in a glass house. This is not meant to criticize construction materials but to remind us not to destroy the neighbor with words of the mouth, very much along the same lines as the ancient proverb Solomon collected. That this problem still exists confirms another of bit of Solomon's wisdom: all things come around again. Mr. Glasshouse still chucks those rocks around and as he plays the hypocrite, he likes it.

Criticism, scoffing, and angry denunciations can make a person feel superior to his neighbor. Mr. Glasshouse looks down on his neighbors because he imagines that smashing sound is the effect of his stone throwing on them. One day, he thinks, they will have suffered enough to 'straighten out' and see the errors of their ways as he does. The bitterness of his loneliness will soon cause more rocks to fly. Why is he lonely? It seems that his rocks retain enough velocity to sting and hurt the neighbors even after smashing through his glass walls. And they do, and well we know it.

All of us have come under fire from Mr. Glasshouse and we have been hurt. There are many in the Glasshouse clan, and they throw those rocks with pepper on 'em.

Now comes the tough part. What are we in Christ to do with Mr. Glasshouse? Jesus already prepared us for this: "Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matt 5:44) No returning that criticism stone for stone and no hateful defensiveness, just prayer and doing good to old Mr. Glasshouse. Whoa! We wanted a tough road to climb to prove our love for the Lord and there it is.

But, I'm not up to climbing this steep road! True, but our Lord Jesus will get us up there. Follow Him!

Love in Christ Jesus,
Bucky