Yeah, I’m Talkin’ about You

Proverbs 26: ²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out;
    without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
²¹ As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
    so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
    they go down to the inmost parts.

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“It’s ashamed what happened to INSERT NAME” was always the start of a conversation I had no business being in. At first I stayed away because I had been on the other side of the words many times. But I was now “in the club” and I couldn’t pass up these juicy morsels.

• There have been times where I have joined gossip.
• There have been times where I have listened to others rant about someone else.
• There have been times where I have absorbed the strife about another person who was not present.

I could say I never actually “spread” the gossip or that I never actually “initiated” the gossip, but listening is just as bad. What can I do?

• GOD says to me “Wanting to hear gossip is just as bad as saying gossip.”
• GOD says to me “Love your enemies as well as your neighbors.”
• GOD says to me “Do not slander or it will fall on you.”

Spreading gossip is offensive to GOD! HE does not like when I speak about someone in slanderous tones especially when they are not present. If I cannot say what I have to say to their face and in front of an impartial group, then I should not say it at all. GOD wants me to change my words from poison to praise.

• Are you gossiping?
• Do you feel the need to talk about other people?
• Are you listening to gossip?
• Will you change your ways and encourage people instead of tearing them down?