It’s not OK to gossip.
There is never a reason good enough to gossip. Not one! Not ever!
Gossip ruins another persons reputation, exposing them. Love does the opposite, love covers.
A person who gossips, no matter what it’s about, no matter how seemingly small, reveals they have a love deficient heart. Gossip is loveless because the intent is ruinous.
Gossip is usually mixed with exaggeration, innuendo, lies, or our own personal slant on the situation–very often from a wrong or one-sided perspective.
Gossip reveals a heart full of hate. Gossip, ultimately, pulls down another person, so we can look good or feel better about ourselves or even feel better about our dislike of the person.
If we have a need to hear the juicy details, to be in the know, relish details we have no business knowing, we have an insecure and loveless heart. Our heart is seeking to relieve its own conscience by being in the possession of negative or ugly details about another person; whether those details are correct, doesn’t even matter. Gossip tastes delicious to an unrenewed mind, it goes down deep into the soul, it hardens our heart, Proverbs 18:8, Proverbs 26:22.
Gossip is used to justify our own lovelessness. We can comfortably ignore our need to let God work on our character because that other person is so much worse. What a comparison trap!
God hates gossip, and tells us to stop! Exodus 23:1, and Leviticus 19:16.
Evil Christians (who don’t care about their brothers and sisters) relish malicious conversation; the ears of liars itch for dirty gossip, Proverbs 17:4.
Gossip is poisonous and infectious, Psalm 31:19, and Proverbs 29:12.
Those who gossip are small-minded, Psalm 63:9.
We should simply decide to love people. Then we will not be part of, listen to, or have anything to add to, gossip. When we love from a sincere place in our heart, we have no need to ruin another persons reputation or life.
Love prefers the highest good for another person, so love will not gossip, not ever.
Love will never make up excuses to justify gossip, minimize it, or say it’s harmless. Gossip is never harmless.
When our love is pure and genuine, we will have only nice things to say.
When (not if, but when–because we will face difficult people) a person has given us reason to have nothing nice to say, love keeps its mouth shut. We can, if needed, vent to God, talking to Him about all the details. He knows them all anyway. Seeking His help brings the right perspective and we can trust him with the answers we need. And we are free to keep on loving.
The world will know we are followers of Jesus by the way we love, John 13:35.
