Words of Gossip

Proverbs 26:20-22 (The Message)
When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
    when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.
A quarrelsome person in a dispute
    is like kerosene thrown on a fire.
Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;
    do you want junk like that in your belly?


Reflection
Gossiping is fun. And having one or two people that you go to every time you hear a “juicy” piece of gossip adds to that enjoyment. I’ll admit, this is something I struggle with almost daily. I get so caught up in what other people are doing and feel like it is my job to communicate that information to other people. It’s not. It’s not any of our jobs to talk about anyone else in a negative way. It’s not any of our jobs to gossip.

Our verses today explain some of the consequences of gossip, the first being that it leads to an explosion of conflict rather than resolution.

Just like a fire needs fuel to stay alive, so does conflict. And gossip is a powerful fuel. If you’ve ever been in an argument with someone, you probably know that continuously talking about the issue gets you fired up. You let that conflict build up in your mind by replaying it over and over. You talk about it with others, and that leads to you feeling upset all over again. Finally, when we take that anger that’s building and try to have a conversation with the person our conflict is with, it almost never ends in a peaceful resolution. Most likely, we explode in anger, distrust, frustration, or pain. It’s as if we’ve thrown kerosene on a fire (verse 21), and it makes everything worse and harder to put out.

Another consequence of gossip is that it hurts us. Gossip might look appealing, but it damages our spiritual health. Allowing negativity into our lives isn’t healthy. Allowing anger to fester in our lives isn’t healthy. Allowing sin to destroy the relationships in our lives isn’t healthy. These things separate us from the life God wants for us, and they prevent us from having healthy spiritual lives. We don’t continue eating things that make us physically sick, so why would we continue doing things that make us spiritually sick?


Action Steps
Think about the conversations you’ve had this past week. How many of them contained gossip? What could your spiritual health look like if you stopped engaging in gossip?


Prayer
God, help us. We know that gossip is poison to our minds and spirits. We need Your help to remove it from our lives. Allow us to speak words of truth and life instead of gossip. Thank You for showing me where I need to change. It is in Your name that we pray. Amen.