Just A Little Harmless Gossip...?

A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. Proverbs 16:28 (New Living Translation. NLT)

And if they are on the list, they will learn to be lazy and will spend their time gossiping from house to house, meddling in other people’s business and talking about things they shouldn’t. I Timothy 5:13 (New Living Translation, NLT)

The Bible tells us not to gossip. We are to refrain from talking about other people behind their back. Some people might think it is harmless to indulge in a little chatter about others as long as they don’t find out about it. That’s wrong- very wrong. And I’ll tell you why.

First of all, gossip is frequently based on rumors, half-truths, and downright lies. No child of God is to be involved in lying or deceit of any kind. According to Revelation 21:8, liars will have their part in the lake of fire. That’s how seriously God views lying.

Additionally, talking about someone else can be damaging to their reputation; to their good name. If you gossip and spread rumors about something you’ve heard, and it turns out to be untrue, you have soiled that person’s image in the eyes of the people you have told. To be honest, I have heard people gossip about certain people, and even though I knew it was probably false, those lies about the person were still in the back of my mind when I saw them or spoke with them. As I have grown in the Lord, I have learned to try to avoid situations where I might hear gossip about people. We need to be careful what we hear- wrong words can color our view of good people.

Finally, and most importantly, gossip is bad because our words have creative power. Speaking negative words over people can affect them in the spirit realm. When we speak wrong things, we can give the enemy power to operate in someone’s life. The creative power in our words should be used for the good of people, not to destroy or harm them. That is why intercessory prayer is so powerful: we are using our words for someone else’s benefit.

Guard your mouth and keep from speaking badly about others. And the next time someone comes up to you and says, “You won’t believe what I heard about so-and-so,” you need to respond by saying, “No I wouldn’t, so don’t bother telling me.”

Gossip isn’t harmless; avoid it like the plague.