We love tantalizing tales.
The more juice in our story, the better it tastes going down.
What did Misty do with Justin? Oh, my! Who would believe it? This is too good not to share.
Not so, says God. If we share it, we’ve become a gossip. We’re passing around information better left unsaid.
“But, but …” we sputter. “It’s going to get out, anyway. And it’s true. You mean we can’t … maybe … just hint at the truth?”
God says, No! You are hurting those you talk about, and that’s not my way.
Read in Proverbs 26:20-22 where God outlines how vital our choice of behavior is.
“For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.”
When we share our secretive information, we’re putting wood on the fire. We’re making it worse. God says we must stop.
As long as we continue to whisper to those who will listen, we prolong the hurt feelings and arguments.
We are the charcoal that stokes the embers and the wood the fuels the fire. We are feeding the evil one’s goals, creating a morass of ill feeling that we should have left alone.
God’s lesson about gossip is Leave It Alone! Quit saying it. True or not, refuse to listen and don’t repeat it.
Easy enough, right? Gossip tastes good going down, but in the stomach, it becomes a bilious turmoil that serves no one any good.
God expects our best, both in our commitment to him and in how we treat the people around us.
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