Positive Graffiti - All Our Daily Bread Daily Devotionals for 2025

Bible in a Year : Ezekiel 42-44, 1 John 1

The soothing tongue is a tree of life.
Proverbs 15:4

Today's Scripture & Insight : Proverbs 15:1-4, 23-28

As a young man, journalist Sebastian Junger traveled the United States and wrote about it. One day in the 1980s, he entered a restroom in the Florida Keys and found hateful graffiti scrawled on the walls. Most of it targeted Cuban immigrants. But one message, apparently from a Cuban, stood out. It read, “Thank God the rest of the people in this country are warm and caring and welcomed me in ’62.” Junger observed, “The very worst things about America were on that men’s-room wall, and the very best.”

How are we to respond to the poisonous messages we so often encounter? The book of Proverbs offers sound counsel. Solomon, who compiled most of the book, brackets chapter 15 with similar imagery: “the mouth of the fool gushes folly” (v. 2), and “the mouth of the wicked gushes evil” (v. 28). The chapter begins, however, with the antidote to such venom: “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (v. 1). Solomon also noted, “The soothing tongue is a tree of life” (v. 4). Always, a patient response is key: “The heart of the righteous weighs its answers” (v. 28).

How might God use our words when we ask Him to help us weigh them before our mouths, our pens, or our keyboards spew venom and vitriol at our fellow humans? As the proverb says, “How good is a timely word!” (v. 23).

By: Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray
What’s your reaction when you see or hear hateful speech? How might you respond differently the next time you encounter hate?

Dear Father, how prone I am to answer quickly and in anger. Please guide me by Your Spirit and help me weigh my responses wisely.