A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 29:11

“I say what I think, and I mean what I say!”

“I tell it like it is, and if you don’t like it, tough!”

“If you’re feeling it, don’t hold back.  Just say it!”

Have you heard someone say things like this?  Do you know someone like this?  You know who I’m talking about, right?  The person who is, shall we say, blunt.  Tactless.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media, it is almost a certainty that you’ve run across several individuals like this.

Maybe you’re one of them.

If so, then it would be wise to take a moment and consider what your Creator is saying in Proverbs 29:11.

“A fool gives full vent to his spirit…”  Are you too blunt?  A fool is very blunt.  Foolish people vent all their feelings.

Certainly, there is a time and place for venting.  It’s always when you’re in private, or with your therapist, or when you’re with one or two close friends who have earned your trust and can give you great advice after you’re done venting.

Still, it is very foolish to just spray whatever you’re feeling or thinking to just about everyone around you.  It’s foolish to not hold back.

“…but a wise man quietly holds it back.”  People who are wise and prudent decide to hold back.  They recognize the value of tact and the destructiveness of bluntness.

Know this, friends.  Not everybody wants to know everything you think.  In fact, you would not be able to count on even one finger the number of people who truly want to know everything you think.  Not even your spouse or your closest friend would fit that bill.

One of the best compliments one could ever give goes something like this:  “You know, I’ve known them a very long time and I still don’t know where they stand on certain things.”  Why is this a compliment?

Because it infers wisdom upon the one being complimented.  That’s because wise people “quietly hold it back.”  They don’t see the need, and indeed see the prudence, of keeping their mouths shut and their opinions to themselves.

Which describes you?  The one who “gives full vent to his spirit” whom God calls foolish?

Or the wise person who “quietly holds it back”?