Beware The Gossip!

“Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.” (Proverbs 17:4)

Food For Thought: Beware of the gossip today! They’re all around you—at the water cooler, in the break room, out in the parking lot, over at Starbucks, speed-dialing your cell phone with the latest tasty bit of “news.” And they need your listening ear to keep them in business. So be on your guard. And be very aware: If you choose to listen to them, by so doing, you are feeding their nasty addiction and have become a participating member of their club. Oh, one more thing: God doesn’t like them.

Why is it that God despises and forbids gossip among his people? Well, just take a look at the damage it does and you begin to understand God’s hatred of it.

Gossip creates conflict. It stirs up dissension; that’s usually the motive. It makes you think less of the person being talked about. And when that person finds out they’ve been talked about in less than flattering way, it drives a wedge in the relationship. Proverbs 16:28 says, “A perverse man stirs up dissension…” A person who’s guilty of gossip is wicked. Proverbs 6 says that God literally hates the person who stirs up trouble in the family of God.

Have you ever heard of the Boxer Rebellion? It came about when in 1899, four newspaper reporters from Denver, lacking real news, decided to make up a story. The story went that the Chinese government was going to demolish the Great Wall as a gesture international goodwill and to welcome foreign trade. The reporters said that U.S. engineers were bidding on the job, and this story was picked up and expanded by newspapers in the Eastern U.S., and then by newspapers abroad. By the time it got to China, a group of Chinese patriots, already wary of foreigners, learned that the Americans were sending a demolition crew to tear down their national monument. They were enraged and rioted against the foreign embassies in Peking. They killed 100’s of missionaries. Within two months, 12,000 troops from six countries joined forces in China to protect their own countrymen. The bloodshed was sparked by journalistic gossip. That’s what gossip does. It creates conflict.

Gossip ruins relationships. It separates close friends. It breaks up partnerships. It leads to disunity in the body of Christ. Churches have split because someone began to spread gossip. And the work of God suffers. Proverbs 16:27-28 says, “Mean people spread mean gossip; their words smart and burn. Troublemakers start fights; gossips break up friendships.” It fractures relationships, sparks disunity, creates disharmony.

Gossip corrodes confidence. It has this unsettling effect because it’s not intended to build up. Its very nature is to cause you to question another’s motives, behavior or character. Gossip erodes confidence in the person who it’s said about…in the one who is saying it, because if they say something about somebody behind their back to you, what will they say about you when you’re not there? … and in the one who listens. If you listen to gossip and then pass the information on, others will reason that you can’t keep a confidence and are therefore not trustworthy. Proverbs 11:13 says, “A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.”

Gossip ruins reputations. Ever been stung by gossip? In a recent poll, 30% of Americans said they’ve been personally and negatively affected by gossip. It hurts! It stinks! It ought to be banned from Planet Earth!

So I say, go on strike against gossip; boycott the gossiper! Take away their power by refusing to listen to their garbage. Always exercise great care in converations about a person who’s not present. In fact, here’s a good way to determine if a conversation is gossip or not: Would the same thing be said if the person being talked about were present?

Someone has said, “Nothing makes a long story short like the arrival of the person you happen to be talking about. Proverbs 26:20 says, “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.”

And by all means, ask yourself this about any conversation regarding a third party: If Jesus were a part of that conversation, would the same things still be said.

Prayer: Lord, today may I speak only the truth in love. Help me to not let any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. Keep me from grieving the Holy Spirit of God. Help me to get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, slander, and every form of malice. May every thought, word and deed be motivated by kindness and compassion. Help me to forgive others, just as in Christ God forgave me. May I think only about what is true, what is noble, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable, and what is excellent and praiseworthy. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. For your kingdom’s sake I pray, amen.

On this day… In 1742, English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in his journal, “Oh, let none think his labor is lost because the fruit does not immediately appear.”