Romans 1:28-32 “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 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, Slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these things but also approve of those who practice them.”
We all have experienced them and at times may have been one of them. Who am I talking about? Gossipers. A gossiper just loves to partake in gossip, regardless of the outcome. But in the Christian world, it's not called gossip, instead it's masked under the title of "prayerful concern." Maybe we need to take a look at what the word "gossip" really means. According to the the Bing.com online dictionary, gossip is defined as the following: "A busybody is another close relative to gossip -- a person who meddles in the affairs of others. They are like a peeping-tom who snoops and spies. A busybody is the investigator for the gossips and rumormongers, seeking to uncover sensational details and to whisper the latest news. Sometimes busybodies are persons who have too much time on their hands, with nothing better to do than to talk too much. “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” (1 Tim. 5:13.)
What we must realize is, gossip is more than a little bad habit. Gossip is wicked and sinful -- a seething disease of corruption from the mouth. Gossips use their mouth as a weapon -- a weapon which is always aimed at people to fulfill Satan’s desires to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor” (Prov. 11:9). Gossip is an enemy to God and everything called holy -- a cancer which spreads a deadly infection to the body of Christ. Not only did Paul place a gossip in the same league with murderers and sexual deviates, but Jesus warned that for those who would offend his little ones, it would be better for them to be bound with a millstone and drowned in the sea (Mark 9:42). Surely, a harsh and horrible punishment awaits those unrepentant gossips who harm followers of Jesus." (quote from Dr. Dale A. Robbins)
Have you ever had someone come to you with something similar to this..."You know I am really concerned about Sister/Brother so-and-so, did you know that....." and they begin to fill in the blank with whatever the 'concern' is that they have with them. You were not looking for or expecting to hear out right gossip but in fact that is what was spewed out to you. The concerned party looks anxiously to you for some type of response that they will only use to help fuel the flames but instead you tell them what they don't want to hear. You inform them that if this matter is really of concern to them, maybe instead of talking to you or another member of the Church, a better suggestion would be to take it up with the Pastor. You cringe and walk away feeling as if you were just puked on by this individual.
Titus 2:1-5 says "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
I am not saying this to infer that men don't gossip, but I am more looking at the Christian woman here. If we look back at the Titus 2 scripture, we find very quickly how we should maintain ourselves. Where it says that women should be taught to behave in a manner that evokes holiness, n0t given to too much wine and to be discreet. You can take these words a face value or you can dig deeper and ask the LORD to show you what exactly HE means for them in their everyday application to your own life. Let's take for example "not given to much wine," I have heard many say this is a direct inference to alcohol and nothing else. Well, this could be true, but in my personal study I think the WORD is telling us that we are not to be given to much of anything that is a bad habit, such as drinking, drugs, over eating, gossiping, etc. If we are to be discreet, then clearly a busybody gossip is no more discreet than the man in the moon.
If we are going to cherish and uphold with the utmost respect, the position of being a Christian woman or wife, we need to learn the art of closing the door of our mouths to gossiping and busy-bodied-ness as well as avoiding the open mouths of others that partake in the sin that it is. If we have been culpable if this ourselves, take a moment to truly repent and turn from it. We can't make someone else repent but we can be an example that they can look upon. It will be up to that individual to take it before the LORD. We also need to be humble enough to make restitution to those we may have hurt by our gossiping.
If we take a few moments everyday to focus on the calling we have as Christians, wives and women of GOD and act upon it, then we can truly start the process of homespun simplicity on our own lives. The effects of it will reach far beyond anything you might ever imagine. Think of how much nicer your home will be as well. If we refocus our busy bodied time away from the gossip train and put it back into our homes, we can do a world of good within the walls of our marriage, our family and our spiritual life.
We all have experienced them and at times may have been one of them. Who am I talking about? Gossipers. A gossiper just loves to partake in gossip, regardless of the outcome. But in the Christian world, it's not called gossip, instead it's masked under the title of "prayerful concern." Maybe we need to take a look at what the word "gossip" really means. According to the the Bing.com online dictionary, gossip is defined as the following:
- conversation about personal matters: conversation about the personal details of other people's lives, whether rumor or fact, especially when malicious
- casual conversation: informal conversation or writing about recent and often personal events
- habitual talker: somebody who habitually discusses the personal details of others' lives
What we must realize is, gossip is more than a little bad habit. Gossip is wicked and sinful -- a seething disease of corruption from the mouth. Gossips use their mouth as a weapon -- a weapon which is always aimed at people to fulfill Satan’s desires to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor” (Prov. 11:9). Gossip is an enemy to God and everything called holy -- a cancer which spreads a deadly infection to the body of Christ. Not only did Paul place a gossip in the same league with murderers and sexual deviates, but Jesus warned that for those who would offend his little ones, it would be better for them to be bound with a millstone and drowned in the sea (Mark 9:42). Surely, a harsh and horrible punishment awaits those unrepentant gossips who harm followers of Jesus." (quote from Dr. Dale A. Robbins)
Have you ever had someone come to you with something similar to this..."You know I am really concerned about Sister/Brother so-and-so, did you know that....." and they begin to fill in the blank with whatever the 'concern' is that they have with them. You were not looking for or expecting to hear out right gossip but in fact that is what was spewed out to you. The concerned party looks anxiously to you for some type of response that they will only use to help fuel the flames but instead you tell them what they don't want to hear. You inform them that if this matter is really of concern to them, maybe instead of talking to you or another member of the Church, a better suggestion would be to take it up with the Pastor. You cringe and walk away feeling as if you were just puked on by this individual.
Titus 2:1-5 says "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
I am not saying this to infer that men don't gossip, but I am more looking at the Christian woman here. If we look back at the Titus 2 scripture, we find very quickly how we should maintain ourselves. Where it says that women should be taught to behave in a manner that evokes holiness, n0t given to too much wine and to be discreet. You can take these words a face value or you can dig deeper and ask the LORD to show you what exactly HE means for them in their everyday application to your own life. Let's take for example "not given to much wine," I have heard many say this is a direct inference to alcohol and nothing else. Well, this could be true, but in my personal study I think the WORD is telling us that we are not to be given to much of anything that is a bad habit, such as drinking, drugs, over eating, gossiping, etc. If we are to be discreet, then clearly a busybody gossip is no more discreet than the man in the moon.
If we are going to cherish and uphold with the utmost respect, the position of being a Christian woman or wife, we need to learn the art of closing the door of our mouths to gossiping and busy-bodied-ness as well as avoiding the open mouths of others that partake in the sin that it is. If we have been culpable if this ourselves, take a moment to truly repent and turn from it. We can't make someone else repent but we can be an example that they can look upon. It will be up to that individual to take it before the LORD. We also need to be humble enough to make restitution to those we may have hurt by our gossiping.
If we take a few moments everyday to focus on the calling we have as Christians, wives and women of GOD and act upon it, then we can truly start the process of homespun simplicity on our own lives. The effects of it will reach far beyond anything you might ever imagine. Think of how much nicer your home will be as well. If we refocus our busy bodied time away from the gossip train and put it back into our homes, we can do a world of good within the walls of our marriage, our family and our spiritual life.
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