Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
James 1:26
Today we will talk about a very important topic for the good functioning of the body of Christ, we will talk about the language, this small organ with power to bless and curse. And I would like to focus on a more specific topic that is gossip, because as we live in community, naturally we come to know more about each other’s lives and with the advent of social networks, this “word-of-mouth” has gotten worse and much worse in the churches.
It seems just innocent talk
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
2 Timothy 2:16
Whoever has never seen “gossip” gain the affectionate nickname “comment”, a somewhat euphemism for something that can bring weight to the life of the one who speaks and the one who is the target. Often a simple comment passes from one to the other until it becomes something bad and as the verse above reminds us, it leads to impiety.
Maybe the one who started it hadn’t seen evil in what he was talking about, but the one who heard it misunderstood that information and starts to pre-judge a situation or someone without even knowing the truth, and by that time the division in the body of Christ is already made.
“But who am I to judge…”
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Romans 2:1
Have you ever heard anyone say “but who am I to judge?” or even speak after a long sermon about someone? I would like to say that this is already judging, and this is where I wanted to get to the gossip, it leads to judgment and condemnation.
When we gossip, we place ourselves above the other and often as a consequence we see that we are more worthy before God, but as the above passage exhorts us, we actually practice the same thing as the other and this attitude is inexcusable.
Perhaps this text is a little harder than the others I have already written here in the blog, but I would like that at the end of it we can understand the great evil that is talking about the life of others. Churches are divided for this, marriages may come to an end, friends may never speak to each other again and all this for “a simple comment”.
What is the value of your word?
A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.
Proverbs 11:13
“Do people trust me?” there is a question we must always ask ourselves. Have we been good listeners? More than that, when we talk, what do we talk about? Sometimes you can talk a lot about yourself by making room to become a “commentator”, or about others and then you can become the slanderer.
Anyway, we easily identify a person because when they talk, they know what to talk about, having the right advice for that moment or, because they possess content and knowledge. Their words are pleasant to hear and have a real value.
Conclusion
Just as gossip is a problem, so is listening to it, because that is encouraging this attitude. So we need to know how to exhort our brothers when someone makes this mistake. My hope today is that we can pay more attention to what we talk about and discern what is good to talk about or not.
God bless you!
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