A dangerous heart dwells on defects

Across the Preacher’s Desk

• A dangerous heart dwells on defects

Faultfinding is a bad habit that lots of people fall in to. The tragedy is that it is easily acquired and not easily broken.

In case you haven’t noticed, we live in an imperfect world. Everything is flawed and defective. Institutions all blunder and fall short of the ideal. People are all erring creatures and sometimes their faults offend us.

However, we should not pay so much attention to the faults and failures of others. Neither should we dwell on the defects of the world we live in.

If we are not careful, we can become chronic faultfinders. When that happens, we take the next step and become grumblers. Then, if we are not careful, we will become a growler. Folks who growl long enough end up being cynics. When that happens, we are no good to ourselves or to anyone else.

To my knowledge, no one every wakes up one day and says, “I think I will become a cynic”. It happens when we begin to find fault and the habit takes root in our hearts. It then grows until our mind becomes twisted and our heart becomes sour.

It is no wonder the wise man said, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)