Daily Devotional For Friday, February 23, 2024

Gossip is something everyone is guilty of doing. We can get very upset if we are the subject of gossip, but not the spreader of gossip. What should that tell you? In our look at the tongue these last few days, we have seen how easy it is for us not to have control over our tongue. For some people, whatever hits their brain, spews forth on their tongue. There is no filter. I’ve had people say, “Well, that is way I am. I just say or call it the way it is.” Well, that is what critics do, but not Christians. One of the dangers of gossip is that is one’s opinion often based on minimum or no evidence. All of us can be one-sided in our views. All of us tend to see and hear what we want to see and hear. And all of us have a tendency to make ourselves look good while at times we make others look gross. 

Much of what we see and hear on talk news is solely opinions, not facts. Those opinions may be based on some kind of “fact,” but rarely is it 100% pure of a person’s on opinion and interpretation. This is why as Christians we have to be careful that we do not intentionally or unintentionally tarnish the character and reputation of another person.

Look at Proverbs 18:7-8, “A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. (8) The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels, they go down into the inner parts of the body” (ESV). The Message Translation puts it this way:” Fools are undone by their big mouths; their souls are crushed by their words. (8) Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?” The Hebrew word that is translated as “whisperer” is [מוֹקֵשׁ, nirgan] and it means “to murmur, to gossip, to whisper secretly.” 

What do you think of these quotes?

• “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people” ― Henry Thomas Buckle.
• “Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?” ― Sean Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide.
• “People gossip. People are insecure, so they talk about other people so that they won’t be talked about. They point out flaws in other people to make them feel good about themselves.” ~ Blake Lively.
• “What man ever openly apologizes for slander? It is not so much a feeling of slander as it is that of a massive lie, a misdeed not only to the slandered but also to those manipulated in the process. He has made them all, every one, his enemies, thereupon he is so overwhelmed with guilt that he will deny it until his grave.” ~ Criss Jami.
• “It’s not technically gossip if you start your sentence with “I’m really concerned about __________________ ,” (fill in the name of the person you’re not gossiping about).” ~ Brian P. Cleary.
• “Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It’s gossip.” ~ Erma Bombeck.
• “Gossip is saying behind their back what you would not say to their face. Flattery is saying to their face what you would not say behind their back.” ~ Unknown.

Chuck Swindoll writes: “Who hasn’t been hurt by the wagging tongue of a gossip? By gossip, I mean any talking that causes people to divide into camps. Usually, this speech reduces someone in the estimation of the hearer. Gossip almost always conveys false or exaggerated information maliciously. Throughout Scripture, God reserves some of His harshest rebukes for gossips. He despises this sin” (Charles R. Swindoll, Living the Proverbs: Insights for the Daily Grind (pp. 86-, Kindle Edition).

Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, wrote this sad commentary about them 2 Corinthians 12:20, “For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder” (ESV). Writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul said this in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (ESV).

Pastor Alan Redpath has this saying about gossip: “I once formed a mutual encouragement fellowship at a time of stress in one of my pastorates. The members subscribed to a simple formula applied before speaking of any person or subject that was perhaps controversial. It is an acrostic on the word THINK:

T -- is it True? 

H -- is it Helpful?

I --   is it Inspiring? 

N -- is it Necessary? 

K -- is it Kind? If what I am about to say does not pass those tests, I will keep my mouth shut! And it worked!” (Found in Alan Redpath in “A Passion for Preaching,” Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 11).

We all would do well to T.H.I.N.K. when it comes to gossip. Here are some words of application from Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll (Charles R. Swindoll, Living the Proverbs: Insights for the Daily Grind (pp. 87,, Kindle Edition).

First, does this information involve you or affect you directly? If not, let the chain of gossip end with you. If so, discuss the matter only with the people directly involved. Second, what is the motive of the person who conveyed this information? If it is not love, either rebuke that individual or remove yourself from the conversation. If the motive is misguided love, offer to facilitate a constructive conversation between the gossip and the victim.”

Questions To Consider

• Why do you think gossip is so appealing to people?
• Why do you think that when people are given gossip, they take it. But when they are the topic of gossip, they have a melt down? Why do you think they do not see the discrepancy and hypocrisy?
• What is the worse gossip you have ever been told and how did you handle it? Did the person who was gossiped about ever discover this?
• What is the worse gossip you have shared about someone else? Did the person you gossiped about ever discover you did this? If so, what happened?
• What do you think are most people motives in sharing gossip?

Scripture to Meditate On: Proverbs 11:13, “No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy” (GNT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I want to be a person who builds up people, not tear them down. I ask for Your forgiveness for those I have gossiped about or was willing to receive gossip about someone else. You say in Your Word in Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (ESV). I want to be known as a person who does the Golden Rule, not the Gossip Rule. Jesus say this in Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you do do another person, You have personally done it to Me also” (PAR). Jesus, I do not want to slander or put down You or Your Name. I covenant with you to apply T.H.I.N.K. in the future in all my conversations. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside, Pastor Kelly!