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The writer of Proverbs puts it pithily: A perverse man stirs up
dissension, and a gossip separates close
friends. (Prov16:28) Without wood a fire goes out; without
gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to
embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling
strife. The words of a gossip are like choice
morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts. (Prov
26:20-22)
The danger of mixing with gossips and listening to what they say
about others is that it is likely theyre
gossiping about you behind your back! Gossip/slander easily
becomes obsessional: they wont be able to
resist spreading choice morsels about you. A gossip betrays a
confidence; so avoid a man who talks too
much. (Prov 20:19)
As James puts it: Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone
who speaks against his brother or judges him
speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law,
you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
(James 4:11) What he means is that gossip/slander breaks the
royal law of love. So even if a gossip spreads
information which is partially correct (s)he is still wrong,
because without love we are nothing (1 Cor 13:2).
On several occasions Scripture tells us to get rid of
gossip/slander. See Eph 4:31; Col 3:8; 1 Peter 2:1. So we need
to
ensure we exclude it from our lives, our conversations and our
church.
Refuse to listen to gossip/slander (suppose Fred wants to gossip
to me about Marys faults. I could say: Well, Fred,
which of us is now going to approach Mary and convey these
criticisms lovingly to her. Will you do it or shall I,
because according to Scripture one of us must. If you dont tell
her about your difficulties, I must.)
If a person refuses to stop trying to convey gossip/slander to
you it will be necessary to distance yourself from them.
If you have a criticism about someone, Jesus says you must
approach them directly and privately. "If your brother
sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the
two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your
brother over. (Matt 18:15)
Lord,
Thank You that You have the power to give us victory over all
sin
including gossip and sins of our
tongues. Convict us where we have failed You. Give us the
strength to truly repent. Empower us with
Your Spirit because we have no self-control apart from You! Let
us use our words to give life, not to
destroy and kill. Let us honor You greatly with every thought,
word and deed! Let us be holy as You
are holy. Set us apart for Your use. We are fully Yours. Let
Your will be done in our lives. Cleanse us
and make us as white as snow.
In the Name and power of Christ,
Amen!
We are not the judge and by assuming we know the truth when we
really do not, then we are
trying to
take the place of God, just like the devil tried to do in the
beginning. By us speaking those
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accusations we are speaking evil against our brother. Do not
speak evil of one another,
brethren. He
who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil
of the law and judges the
law. But if
you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
There is one Lawgiver, who isable to
save and to destroy Who are you to judge another? (James
4:11-12)
If you are judging others in your heart or speaking against
people, I encourage you to repent
and
change your ways. Put these evil thoughts and words aside and
study the pure word of God.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy
and envy and all slander, like
newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by
it you may grow in respect to
salvation
(I Peter 2:1-2) We are supposed to be new creations in Christ,
putting away our old habits,
and
longing for the pure word of God. You cannot control the devil
when he shoots those fiery
arrows of
accusations but we can cast those thoughts down and be innocent
before God. That is what
it takes
to grow in respect to salvation. That is producing the fruit of
Christ.
