Gossip

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

There is nothing that feels worse when you are facing a difficult situation and trying to do the right thing than to hear rumors flying that undermine you, especially when they are totally false. Maybe you have been there. Have you have faced one of those crossroads in your life where you already feel that your entire world is under a microscope? Those that know you best and are on the "inside" of the situation are all whispering their advice.

Some of this advice is sound, all of it weighs on you. In the end you decide instead of taking an easy road you will take the longer road that is rocky and difficult, you have decided to take the right road. In the midst of this journey you encounter encouragements and set backs, but you keep your eyes focused on the path and keep climbing. Then one day, a friend comes up and says, "why didn't you tell me you had changed your mind. I had no idea you were....". It feels like someone just popped your balloon.

Here you are in the midst of adversity trying to do the right thing and this false word, this lie comes along spreading it's way like a virus among those you know and love. People you barely know hear this and assume it is fact. Why would people say it if wasn't true? People you know may take the statement with a grain of salt, yet it does plant a seed.

Why do we as Christians get involved with such hurtful foolishness? Why can we not say enough is enough and leave well enough alone when we don't know things for a fact? In almost any church in America you can stand near the doors on a Sunday and hear it, someone told someone else who told me and now I am telling you. We are not such a dull people to lack understanding of how these stories get twisted as they pass.

In most cases what business of ours is it? I must say that I have heard very little gossip in my life that would affect me directly or indirectly. Gossip is 9 times out of 10 a person sticking their nose into someone else's private affairs without the knowledge or understanding to have a clue what they are talking about. If these sound like the rantings of someone who has been hurt, then you're right, but I'm not alone, and I am not without justification.

Proverbs 11:13
A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.

Romans 1:29
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips

2 Corinthians 12:20
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

1 Timothy 5:13
Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

The Bible speaks openly and frankly about gossip, it is used in the same breath with such sins as jealousy, deceit, murder, envy, greed and depravity. Sin is not something that we as a church should take lightly. We must understand that gossip hurts people, it eats away at relationships and when we flippantly talk about things we don't know and can't possibly understand we can put others in terrible predicaments. We wouldn't stand in front of a person and tell lies about that person to all who would listen. Why do we take statements that we are unsure about and spread them around behind the persons back.

Make no mistake, gossip is a sin. It shows a lack of respect for our brothers and sisters and proves that we have too much idle time that could better be used to serve the Lord in FAR more productive ways. Let us pray that we would have the wisdom to turn a deaf ear when gossip comes our way and stop this chain of hurtfulness and deceit.